Bio-Inspired Nanoengineered Wood for Scalable Monolithic Gas Sensor Fabrication

Insects exhibit exceptional olfactory abilities due to the synergistic interaction between porous sensilla and sensory receptors, optimizing gas transmission and capture. Inspired by this, a scalable structure of WS₂-functionalized nanoengineered wood (WS₂-NEW) for bio-inspired gas sensors is designed. A multiscale sensing network mimicking insect receptor synergy by in-situ loading WS₂ nanosheets into vertically aligned microchannels formed by lignin removal, integrated with cross-sectional 3D interdigital electrodes is developed. The nanoengineered wood enables selective NO₂ adsorption and optimized charge transfer through engineered gas transport pathways and defect-rich active sites. With the optimized 3D electrode structure, WS₂-NEW facilitates rapid gas transmission and real-time signal transduction, achieving highly sensitive NO₂ detection at room temperature with a detection limit as low as 50 ppb. Utilizing wood's processability, WS₂-NEW has demonstrated the potential for large-scale manufacturing via simple cutting techniques. A wireless sensor watch based on WS₂-NEW for real-time NO₂ detection highlights its potential in wearable devices. This work proposes an innovative strategy for the manufacturing of gas sensors.