Photocatalysis enhanced cataluminescence gas sensor for carbon monoxide based on perylenetetracarboxylic diimide

Abstract

The rapid and sensitive detection techniques for CO are highly essential for public health and environmental pollution. Herein, a photocatalysis enhanced cataluminescence (CTL) gas sensor with metal-free catalyst for CO was developed. Due to the low CTL reaction activity of CO, photocatalysis which could activate CO was chosen as effective signal amplification technology to improve response sensitivity of CO. Meanwhile, self-assembled 3,4,9,10-Perylenetetracarboxylic Diimide (PDINH), which has stacked ordered structure with π-π stacking, was first used as metal-free catalyst for CO oxidation in CTL process. The π-π stacking and layered structure in PDINH are beneficial for the adsorption of O2 and CO. Therefore, amplified CTL signal was acquired because of the important role of photocatalysis and the sensing material in CTL process. Under the optimal experimental conditions, a detection limit (3σ) of 0.002 μg mL−1 CO is found in the proposed method, which has been further improved comparing to that of without photocatalysis. The realization of combining photocatalysis with CTL for the first time gives us a perspective on building a new pretreatment strategy for CTL detection.