New Strategy for Rapid Detection of the Simulants of Persistent Organic Pollutants Using Gas Sensor Based on 3-D Porous Single-Crystalline ZnO Nanosheets

It is significant to detect the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in an environment for both human health and environmental risk assessment. However, most of the current analytical techniques require complicated and tedious processes and are time consuming. Semiconducting metal-oxide sensors are predominant solid-state gas detecting devices for domestic, commercial, and industrial application. Here, combing both the advantages of instrument analytical methods and the metal-oxide sensors, a gas chromatography column was placed in front of a metal-oxide sensor to separate POP simulants from a mixture. The metal-oxide sensor was used to detect the separated sample. To improve the sensitivity, 3D porous single-crystalline ZnO nanosheets (PSCZNs) were synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal method followed by an annealing treatment. Then, the as-prepared 3D PSCZN-based sensors were exploited to couple with gas chromatography column. The simulants of POPs were used to assess the as-prepared sensor and chromatography column coupled measurement method. The experiment results showed a promise for rapid detection of POPs by metal-oxide sensors.