Trace Level Acetone Detection via a Schottky-Contacted SrFeO₃–Ti₃C₂T_<i>x</i> Nanocomposite Sensor

Detection of acetone holds importance due to its adverse implications on the environment, industries, and human health. This work displays the successful formation of a SrFeO3(SFO)–Ti3C2Tx (MX) Schottky-contacted composite sensor and its usage in detecting acetone effectively. The SFO–MX sensor displayed a higher response than the pristine SFO by displaying a high response of 99.5% toward 100 ppm of acetone at room temperature. The sensor could even sense a lower acetone concentration down to 250 ppb with a response of 20.5% at room temperature. The rapid response time (7 s) and recovery time (23 s) of the sensor make it highly worthy in real-time applications. The sensor demonstrated high selectivity, repeatability, and a good response even under humid conditions. The high response of the composite sensor is attributed to its high surface area, high adsorbed and vacant oxygen generation, defect site formations, and high interlayer spacing, which are confirmed by various studies. The stable reaction condition on the interaction of the SFO–MX with acetone was confirmed by the DFT analysis. This study gives future insight into the design of such a Schottky-contacted sensor for faster detection of acetone at room-temperature diabetes diagnosis through breath analysis.