Cataluminescence sensor for highly sensitive and selective detection of iso-butanol

In this paper, a gaseous sensor was described for detection of iso -butanol on the basis of its strong cataluminescence (CTL) emission on nano-MgO surface. The sensor showed high sensitivity and specificity to iso -butanol with response time less than 1 s and recovery time less than 18 s. A good linearly relationship between CTL intensity and the concentration of iso -butanol was observed in the range of 7.6–3350 mg/m 3 ( r  = 0.9992), the limit of detection was 2.5 mg/m 3 . The proposed CTL sensor exhibits good specificity to iso -butanol against other compounds including common alcohols. The possible reaction paths of iso -butanol on the MgO surface were investigated in detail. Results shows that the hydrogen atom abstraction of iso -butanol to form β -R iso following consumption via Waddington mechanism possible is a major reaction channel for CTL emission. The sensor was applied to analyze iso -butanol in spiked samples, satisfactory recoveries were obtained in the range of 96.6–112.8% and the RSDs were 5.0–10.1%, indicating that the proposed sensor is a promising candidate for rapid analysis of iso -butanol.