@article{Chen2025, 
author = {Renjie Chen and Yi Xia and Li Yang and Sufang He and Qiuni Zhao and Xiang Li and Yunzhu Wang and Jiyun Gao and Ming Hou and Mingjun Wang and Liexing Zhou and Lan Xiang and Sridhar Komarneni and Shenghui Guo},
title = {Hetero-engineering-driven hydroxyl radical generation on ZnO-pillared MXene enables moisture-tolerant methane sensing at ppm level},
year = {2025},
journal = {Carbon Future},
volume = {2},
number = {4},
pages = {9200056},
keywords = {pillared Ti3C2Tx, ppm level methane, room temperature, humid condition, photogenerated hydroxyl},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/CF.2025.9200056},
doi = {10.26599/CF.2025.9200056},
abstract = {Ambient methane detection remains constrained by humidity interference and insufficient sensitivity at room temperature. Compared with standalone Ti3C2Tx MXene, hetero-structured ZnO-pillared Ti3C2Tx MXene was engineered via a simple self-assembly method at room temperature, achieving breakthrough room-temperature moisture-tolerant CH4 sensing at ppm level (< 1 ppm detection limit, response of 21.3% to 100 ppm CH4 at 80% relative humidity (RH). Through in-situ electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, we demonstrate visible-light-driven hydroxyl radical (·OH) generation at ZnO/MXene interfaces in humid conditions. These radicals activate the catalytic conversion from CH4 to CO2 at reduced energy barriers, overcoming humidity poisoning by preferential H2O dissociation, enhancing the sensing performance together with the increased hole concentration and the improved activity of oxygen species. This study not only paves a new way for designing MXene-based gas sensors adaptable to diverse environmental conditions, but also establishes a hetero-engineering paradigm for radical-mediated gas detection.}
}