A new and high response gas sensor for methanol using molecularly imprinted technique

•Methanol sensor using molecularly imprinted technique were prepared and investigated.•The methanol gas sensing property of the sample is excellent.•The optimal operating temperature of the sensor is 130°C.•The sensor has nice selectivity to methanol.•The minimum concentration that can be detected is 1ppm, the response is 41. A new gas sensor with high response and selectivity was fabricated by using molecularly imprinted powders (MIPs) which provide special recognition sites to methanol. The MIPs were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. The gas sensing properties of MIPs to methanol were investigated. The experimental results indicate that the sensors based on the MIPs show excellent gas sensing properties to methanol vapor, and the properties of the sensor with x=1:4 (x=methanol:methyl acrylic acid, molar ratio) are the best. At the optimal operating temperature of 130°C, the response of the sensor (x=1:4) to 1ppm methanol is 41, and the response and recovery times are 40s and 50s, respectively. Those good gas sensing properties make the MIPs the promising candidates for determining methanol vapor in air.