Biomimetic gas sensor derived from pine tree for highly sensitive and selective detection of C2H6O2†

Inspired by the structural similarity between dog turbinates and pine tree (PT), PT was successfully carbonized into carbon materials with a similar structure to that of dog turbinates at different temperatures. We used PT-derived carbon materials for gas sensor research and carbonized PT by the pyrolytic carbonization method. The materials were characterized using SEM, TEM, X-ray, XRD, FT-IR, UV-vis, XPS, and EDS. It was found that carbonized pine tree (PTC) samples developed orderly porous structures with large specific surface areas. At room temperature, the response to 500 ppm ethylene glycol (C₂H₆O₂) was 9.3 k%, theoretical detection limit was 0.1064 ppm, response time was 3.522 s, recovery time was 3.997 s, and common interference gases such as ammonia, ethanol, acetone have good immunity, compared with the fresh sensor; after 45 days, the sensor's response to C₂H₆O₂ fluctuated less than 2.1%, and it still had good recovery in 10 consecutive response recovery cycles, realizing high sensitivity, stability and selective detection of C₂H₆O₂ and providing a reference value for the research and development of low-cost, high performance and good stability gas sensors and effective utilization of the biomass waste.