Humidity-resistant triethylamine sensor based on Cu-doped CdIn₂S₄ nanoflowers

In the realm of low-power gas sensing, bimetallic sulfides have garnered a lot of interest as prospective sensitive materials. However, their poor tolerance to dampness and delayed reaction kinetics makes them impractical. In order to modify the electronic structure of CdIn₂S₄ and enhance its gas sensing capabilities, sulfur vacancies were added using atomic Cu doping. The test findings showed that Cu-CdIn₂S₄ had a response value of 21 to 100 ppm triethylamine gas at a working temperature of 100 °C, which was five times greater than that of CdIn₂S₄. The minimal detection limit was 100 ppb. It also responds quickly and recovers quickly (2 s/33 s). Additionally, the sensor has good humidity resistance and selectivity. Cu doping into CdIn₂S₄ increases the specific surface area and sulfur vacancy concentration, which speeds up the sensitive materials interaction kinetics with the target gas and improves gas sensing capability. The findings show that the defect design work has a lot of potential for use in low-power triethylamine detection, as it is an inexpensive and highly responsive gas-sensitive material.