Ethanol sensor development based on ternary-doped metal oxides (CdO/ZnO/Yb2O3) nanosheets for environmental safety

Herein, we report the construction of a dynamic, highly sensitive, stable, reliable, and reproducible selective ethanol sensor based on a ternary metal oxide system of CdO/ZnO/Yb2O3 nanosheets (NSs). The NSs were synthesized by a hydrothermal process in alkaline phases. The morphological and structural characterization of the synthesized NSs were approved using various advantageous and well-established conventional methods such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV/vis), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD). A thin layer of CdO/ZnO/Yb2O3 NSs was deposited onto a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with conducting binder to produce a working electrode. A calibration plot was obtained and was found to be linear over the ethanol concentration range (linear dynamic range, LDR) from 0.35 nM to 3.5 mM with the detection limit (LoD) of 0.127 ± 0.006 nM and the quantification limit (LoQ) of 0.423 ± 0.02 (signal-to-noise ratio, at the S/N of 3), and the system exhibited a sensitivity of 7.4367 μA mM-1 cm-2. Furthermore, the proposed chemical sensor was successively applied for the detection of ethanol in various environmental samples. This approach was introduced as a well-organized route for efficient ethanol sensor development in environmental and health-care fields in a broad scale.