Highly Selective Wearable Alcohol Homologue Sensors Derived from Pt-Coated Truncated Octahedron Au
Hongting Ma, Peihao Cheng, Chuanrui Chen, Xiaodong Geng, Kaizhou Yang, Fengjuan Lv, Junlin Ma, Yue Jiang, Quanli Liu, Yan Su, Jian Li, Nan Zhu
Abstract
Unhealthy alcohol inhalation is among the top 10 causes of preventable death. However, the present alcohol sensors show poor selectivity among alcohol homologues. Herein, Pt-coated truncated octahedron Au (Ptm@Auto) as the electrocatalyst for a highly selective electrochemical sensor toward alcohol homologues has been designed. The alcohol sensor is realized by distinguishing the electro-oxidation behavior of methanol (MeOH), ethanol (EtOH), or isopropanol (2-propanol). Intermediates from alcohols are further oxidized to CO2 by Ptm@Auto, resulting in different oxidation peaks in cyclic voltammograms and successful distinction of alcohols. Ptm@Auto is then modified on wearable glove-based sensors for monitoring actual alcohol samples (MeOH fuel, vodka, and 2-propanol hand sanitizer), with good mechanical performance and repeatability. The exploration of the Ptm@Auto-based wearable alcohol sensor is expected to be suitable for environmental measurement with high selectivity for alcohol homologues or volatile organic compounds.