Oxygen sensing with individual ZnO:Sb micro-wires: effects of temperature and light exposure on the sensitivity and stability

Nanostructured ZnO has been widely investigated as a gas sensing material. Antimony is an important dopant for ZnO that catalyses its surface reactivity and thus strengthens its gas sensing capability. However, there are not enough studies on the gas sensing of antimony-doped ZnO single wires. We fabricated and characterized ZnO/ZnO:Sb core–shell micro-wires and demonstrated that individual wires are sensitive to oxygen gas flow. Temperature and light illumination strongly affect the oxygen gas sensitivity and stability of these individual wires. It was found that these micro- and nano-wire oxygen sensors at 200°C give the highest response to oxygen, yet a vanishingly small effect of light and temperature variations. The underlying physics and the interplay between these effects are discussed in terms of surface-adsorbed oxygen, oxygen vacancies and hydrogen doping.

Light-Assisted Enhancement of Gas Sensing Property for Micro-Nanostructure Electronic Device: A Mini Review

In recent years, gas sensing electronic devices have always attracted wide attention in the field of environment, industry, aviation and others. In order to improve the gas sensing properties, many micro- and nano-fabrication technologies have been proposed and investigated to develop high-performance gas sensing devices. It is worth noting that light irradiation is an effective strategy to enhance gas sensitivity, shorten the response and recovery time, reduce operating temperature. In this review, firstly, the latest research advances of gas sensors based on different micro-nanostructure materials under UV light and visible light activation is introduced. Then, the gas sensing mechanism of light-assisted gas sensor is discussed in detail. Finally, this review describes the present application of gas sensors with improved properties under light activation assisted conditions and the perspective of their applications.

RECOGNITION OF GAS-AIR MIXTURES BY A SINGLE GAS SENSOR BASED ON TIN DIOXIDE NANOWHISKERS

Нитевидные нанокристаллы диоксида олова были выращены методом физического осаждения из паровой фазы и перенесены на контактную систему методом замороженной капли. Полученные сенсоры обладают газочувствительностью, воздействие паров газов-восстановителей приводит к увеличению их проводимости. Показано, что существует долговременный дрейф проводимости сенсора при воздействии пробы. Исследована концентрационная зависимость чувствительности сенсора к парам этанола, ацетона и пропанол-2 при температуре 300 °С. На основе анализа концентрационных зависимостей проводимости рассчитаны энергии десорбции частиц, а также положения донорных уровней, индуцированных при адсорбции газов-восстановителей, относительно акцепторного уровня кислорода. Показано, что рассчитанные параметры имеют существенно меньший по сравнению с проводимостью временной дрейф. Использование указанных параметров позволяет распознавать газовоздушные смеси, т.е. однозначно отнести одну из трех исследованных проб к её классу. Tin dioxide nanowhiskers were grown by physical vapor deposition and transferred to the contact system by the frozen drop method. The sensors demonstrate gas-sensitivity. Exposing sensors to the atmosphere contained vapors of reducing-gases leads to an increasing of their conductivity. A long-term drift of the sensor conductivity during reducing-gas exposition was shown. A sensitivity response vs concentration for ethanol, acetone, and propanol-2 vapors at temperature 300 °C was investigated. Desorption energies of the particles and the positions of the donor levels induced by adsorption of reducing gases particles were calculated by analysis of the conductivity vs concentration dependence. The calculated parameters had a significantly smaller time drift in comparison with the conductivity. Using of these parameters makes possible to recognize gas-air mixtures: classify the each of three studied samples to one of classes.

Surface engineering of Ti3C2Tx MXene by oxygen plasma irradiation as room temperature ethanol sensor

In this work, a surface modification strategy by oxygen plasma irradiation was introduced for the first time to significantly improve the room temperature sensing performance of Ti3C2T[Formula: see text] MXene. Oxygen plasma irradiation induced TiO2 formation on the Ti3C2T[Formula: see text] surface, produced lattice distortion, increased the specific surface area, and provided mesoporous structures. The gas sensitivity performance characterization results show the gas response value of Ti3C2T[Formula: see text] irradiated for 0.5 h (Ti3C2T[Formula: see text]0.5P) was hundreds of times better than the pristine Ti3C2T[Formula: see text]alongside with its sufficient response time (280 s) and rapid recovery time (11 s). The excellent sensing performance is attributed to the formation of more reactive sites on the edge and basal planes of Ti3C2T[Formula: see text] and mesoporous structures which greatly improved the adsorption of ethanol. Additionally, the relatively low work function of TiO2 facilitates the formation of a Schottky junction for easy migration of charge carrier, the thereby shortening the sensing response time. This strategy offers a facile and controllable surface modification of other 2D materials, without damaging their structures.

Low-Operating-Temperature NO2 Sensor Based on a CeO2/ZnO Heterojunction

CeO2/ZnO-heterojunction-nanorod-array-based chemiresistive sensors were studied for their low-operating-temperature and gas-detecting characteristics. Arrays of CeO2/ZnO heterojunction nanorods were synthesized using anodic electrodeposition coating followed by hydrothermal treatment. The sensor based on this CeO2/ZnO heterojunction demonstrated a much higher sensitivity to NO2 at a low operating temperature (120 °C) than the pure-ZnO-based sensor. Moreover, even at room temperature (RT, 25 °C) the CeO2/ZnO-heterojunction-based sensor responds linearly and rapidly to NO2. This sensor’s reaction to interfering gases was substantially less than that of NO2, suggesting exceptional selectivity. Experimental results revealed that the enhanced gas-sensing performance at the low operating temperature of the CeO2/ZnO heterojunction due to the built-in field formed after the construction of heterojunctions provides additional carriers for ZnO. Thanks to more carriers in the ZnO conduction band, more oxygen and target gases can be adsorbed. This explains the enhanced gas sensitivity of the CeO2/ZnO heterojunction at low operating temperatures.

Significant effect of SDS on the optimum operating temperature of ZnO nanosheets gas-sensitive materials

Many methods have been used to reduce the operational energy consumption of ZnO gas-sensitive material effectively. In this paper, different morphologies of ZnO nanomaterials are respectively prepared in the anionic hydrophilic surfactant sodium lauryl sulfate (SDS) with different concentrations as soft templates by hydrothermal method. The influence of SDS concentrations is investigated on the morphology of materials under the conditions of a weak alkali environment with the same pH, and their gas sensitivity after annealing with the same temperature and time. The morphologies and phase structures of all samples are characterized by FESEM and XRD, and their gas-sensitive properties are analyzed by CGS-1TP. Interestingly, the experimental results show that the optimal working temperature of ZnO gas-sensitive materials containing low concentration SDS is reduced by nearly 55% than that of containing 10 times this concentration, and its sensitivity is also slightly improved. The possible mechanism by which the SDS concentration affects the gas sensitivity of the material is also proposed.

Incorporation of Au Nanoparticles on ZnO/ZnS Core Shell Nanostructures for UV Light/Hydrogen Gas Dual Sensing Enhancement

ZnO/ZnS nanocomposite-based nanostructures exhibit dual light and gas sensing capabilities. To further boost the light/dual sensing properties, gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) were incorporated into the core-shell structures. Multiple material characterizations revealed that Au NPs were successfully well spread and decorated on ZnO/ZnS nanostructures. Furthermore, our findings show that the addition of Au NPs could enhance both 365 nm UV light sensing and hydrogen gas sensing in terms of light/gas sensitivity and light/gas response time. We postulate that the optimization of gas/light dual sensing capability may result from the induced electric field and inhabitation of electron-hole recombination. Owing to their compact size, simple fabrication, and stable response, ZnO/ZnS/Au NPs-based light/gas dual sensors are promising for future extreme environmental monitoring.

Reduced Graphene Oxide Screen Printed Thick Film as NO2 Gas Sensor at Low Temperature

Most of the recent reduced graphene oxide (rGO) based sensors shows gas sensitivity above 50o to 150°C. The present investigation deals with the gas sensing at 50°C temperature. In the present research work, thick film sensors of rGO were developed on glass substrate by using standard screen-printing technique. The silver paste of rGO was used to make electrodes for contact on thick films for the electrical and gas sensing system. The electrical properties of rGO thick films such as resistivity, activation energy and temperature coefficient were studied. The resistivity of rGO thick films was found to be 84.84 Ω/m. The morphological, elemental and structural properties of rGO thick films were analyzed by SEM, EDS and XRD techniques respectively. The crystallite size of rGO thick films was found as 28.42 nm by using Scherer’s formula. The rGO thick films were prepared and exposed to Ethanol, NH3, NO2 and LPG gases to determine sensitivity and selectivity. The sensitivity of NO2 has been found to be maximum among other exposed gases. The maximum sensitivity of NO2 gas was 92.55 % at 50 °C found with fast response (~ 11 sec) and recovery (~ 19 sec) time.