Ta/Organo-In Nanomaterials for Low-Power or Room Temperature Triethylamine Response

The development of chemical sensor technology has been significantly advanced amine-responsive materials with the characteristics of rapid response, stability, and low-power consumption. This study synthesize Organo-In materials, and further explored the composite formation between tantalum (Ta) powder, and the organometallic indium (Organo-In). The morphology and structure of the resulting material were characterized using SEM, TEM, XRD, HAADF, and XPS. Results demonstrate the Ta/Organo-In composite's exceptional triethylamine (TEA) selectivity: Showing 92.34 response to 50 ppm TEA at 190 °C with 9s/486 s response/recovery times, outperforming aldehydes/ketones/aromatics. Notably, the Ta/Organo-In prepared by the method in this study showed a response value of approximately 3.4 toward 50 ppm TEA at room temperature (about 25 °C), and the response values remained stable after 10 consecutive cycles, indicating the material's excellent reliability and potential for low-power applications in real-time TEA monitoring devices at room temperature. The selectivity and continuous gas sensing performance of Ta/Organo-In at room temperature are both acceptable. Furthermore, within the concentration range of 1–500 ppm, the response values of the Ta/Organo-In material to TEA followed a Logistic curve fitting with an R² of 0.99644. Finally, the selective response mechanism of materials to TEA was discussed.