DNA-Incorporated Biomimetic Olfactory Neuroepithelium That Facilitates Artificial Intelligence

Designing biomimetic olfactory neuroepithelium (BONe) with subnanosized active domains as artificial olfactory receptors (ORs) is highly desirable to sense various colorless and odorless hazardous odorants which find no appropriate ORs in the human olfactory neuroepithelium (ONe), yet challenging because of the unsuitability of biomolecules for a design that requires effective electronic features and stability. Herein, a DNA-incorporated 3D BONe is introduced, where DNA facilitates optimal tuning of d-band center, and in situ anchoring of PdO2 subnanoscale clusters (PdO2-sNCs) on the exfoliated single-layer reduced graphene oxide (SL rGO), to mimic wrinkled morphology of natural ONe. Unprecedentedly, BONe demonstrates benchmarked H-2-sensing performance (small recovery time of approximate to 30 s with a limit of detection of 50 ppb) at room temperature with yearlong durability, satisfying prerequisites of safe adoption of H-2 clean energy. The great recovery is innovatively illustrated by the downshift of d-band center of PdO2-sNCs and strong electron transport of SL-rGO network. An adsorption/desorption model is proposed to clarify the sensing mechanism. BONe design may eventually be integrated with artificial intelligent electronics for ppb-level sensing of harmful gases to ensure accident prevention in modern public and military environments.