A cataluminescence sensor system for diethyl ether based on CdO nanostructure

Abstract

A three-dimensional hierarchical CdO nanostructure with a novel bio-inspired morphology was synthesized by the solvothermal route using dimethyl sulfoxide. Field emission scanning electronic microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and an x-ray diffractometer were employed to characterize the as-prepared samples. Diethyl ether, a common volatile organic compound (VOC), was selected as a model to investigate the cataluminescence (CTL) sensing properties of the CdO nanostructure in the current work. The results show that the as-prepared CdO nanostructure exhibited outstanding CTL properties such as stable intensity, high signal/noise values, and short response and recovery time. Additionally, the diethyl ether sensor system could cover a linear detection range of 10–4000 ppm (R = 0.9952, n = 7) and a detection limit of about 6.5 ppm (S/N = 3), which was below the standard permitted concentration. Furthermore, the sensor system showed outstanding selectivity to diethyl ether compared with seven other sorts of common VOCs. The mechanism for the improved performance was also discussed based on the experimental results. The performance of the bio-inspired CdO nanostructure based sensor system suggested the promising application of the CdO nanostructure as a novel highly efficient CTL sensing material.