In recent years, the increasing severity of chemical warfare agent threats to public safety has led to a growing demand for gas sensors capable of detecting these compounds. However, gas sensors used for the detection of chemical warfare agents must overcome limitations in sensitivity, selectivity, and reaction speed. This paper presents a sensitive material and a surface acoustic gas sensor for detecting dimethyl methyl phosphonate. The results demonstrate that the sensor exhibits good selectivity and could detect 80 ppb of dimethyl methyl phosphonate within 1 min. As an integral component of the sensor, the microstructure and adsorption mechanism of silica molecular imprinting material were studied in detail. The results show that the template molecule could significantly affect the pore volume, specific surface area, and hydroxyl density of mesoporous materials. These properties further affect the performance of the sensor. This study provides a valuable case study for the design of sensitive materials.
Keywords: dimethyl methyl phosphonate; gas sensor; molecularly imprinted materials; surface acoustic wave.