Facile synthesis of nanostructured WO3 thin films and their characterization for ethanol sensing.

A simple technique to fabricate nanostructured WO3 thin films onto conductomeric transducers has been employed for ethanol sensing application. Initially, pure tungsten (W) thin films were deposited onto the substrate employing RF sputterer and followed by an etching process. Three types of etching agent were used: nitric (HNO3), sulphuric (H2SO4), and phosphoric (H3PO4) acid. It was found that the surface morphology and crystallinity of the WO3 films were heavily dependant to the etchants employed during the fabrication process. The developed sensors were tested towards ethanol vapor of different concentrations (10–200 ppm) at temperatures between room and 450 °C. The sensors showed stable and reproducible response at optimum operating temperatures. High sensor response towards vaporized ethanol as well as fast τres and τrec was observed during the “adsorption” and “desorption” interval. The recorded maximum response for these devices when exposed towards 100 ppm ethanol was measured to be 8 (Ro = 4.6 kΩ), 5.8 (Ro = 22.5 GΩ), and 5 (Ro = 0.29 MΩ) for HNO3, H3PO4, and H2SO4, respectively. The optimum operating temperatures were determined to be 400, 300–380, and 360 °C for the sensors developed using HNO3, H3PO4, and H2SO4, respectively

Optical H2 sensing properties of vertically aligned Pd/WO3 nanorods thin films deposited via glancing angle rf magnetron sputtering

In this work, the optical H2-sensing properties of Pd/tungsten trioxide (WO3) nanorods prepared by rf magnetron sputtering with glancing-angle deposition (GLAD) technique are investigated. From grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopic characterizations, annealed WO3 structure deposited on a quartz substrate at glancing angle of 85° exhibited polycrystalline monoclinic crystal structure with uniform partially isolated columnar nanorod morphology. The nanorods have the average length, diameter and rod separation of around 400 nm, 50 nm and 20 nm, respectively. The developed sensors show remarkable gasochromic absorbance response when exposed to H2. Cumulative absorbance in 650–1000 nm wavelength range is increased by approximately 51% toward H2 with 0.1% concentration in synthetic air, which is more than an order of magnitude higher than that of WO3 dense film prepared by conventional sputtering method. Moreover, WO3 nanorod based sensor is much more promising for practical use due to its much faster response. Therefore, the developed Pd/WO3 nanorod based optical sensors are highly potential for low H2 concentration sensing with highly sensitivity, fast and stable responses and low operating temperature

Polyaniline nanofiber based surface acoustic wave gas sensors – effect of nanofiber diameter on H2 response

Kourosh and Kaner, Richard B. 2007, Polyaniline nanofiber based surface acoustic wave gas sensors – effect of nanofiber diameter on H2 response, IEEE sensors journal, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 213-218. Available from Deakin Research Online

H2 sensing performance of optical fiber coated with nano-platelet WO3 film

For the first time, we have integrated nano-platelet Pd/WO3 films, which are formed using an acid etching method, with optical fibers to develop a hydrogen gas (H2) sensors. The tungsten films were firstly RF sputtered on top of optical fiber tips, and subsequently etched in 1.5 M nitric acid to produce tungstite films. After annealing at 300 and 480 °C, these films were coated with approximately 25 Å thick Pd layers. The films were characterized using SEM, GADDS, EDX, and both Raman and UV–vis–NIR spectroscopy. H2 testing measurements were conducted when the sensors were interacting with 0.06–1% H2 in synthetic air at an optimum temperature of 100 °C. It was found that the highly crystalline nano-platelet Pd/WO3 film based optical fiber H2 sensors show large reflectance responses in the NIR wavelength of 6% and 12% in the presence of 0.06% and 1% H2, respectively

Physisorption-based charge transfer in two-dimensional SnS2 for selective and reversible NO2 gas sensing

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a gas species that plays an important role in certain industrial, farming, and healthcare sectors. However, there are still significant challenges for NO2 sensing at low detection limits, especially in the presence of other interfering gases. The NO2 selectivity of current gas-sensing technologies is significantly traded-off with their sensitivity and reversibility as well as fabrication and operating costs. In this work, we present an important progress for selective and reversible NO2 sensing by demonstrating an economical sensing platform based on the charge transfer between physisorbed NO2 gas molecules and two-dimensional (2D) tin disulfide (SnS2) flakes at low operating temperatures. The device shows high sensitivity and superior selectivity to NO2 at operating temperatures of less than 160 °C, which are well below those of chemisorptive and ion conductive NO2 sensors with much poorer selectivity. At the same time, excellent reversibility of the sensor is demonstrated, which has rarely been observed in other 2D material counterparts. Such impressive features originate from the planar morphology of 2D SnS2 as well as unique physical affinity and favorable electronic band positions of this material that facilitate the NO2 physisorption and charge transfer at parts per billion levels. The 2D SnS2-based sensor provides a real solution for low-cost and selective NO2 gas sensing

Low temperature response of nanostructured tungsten oxide thin films toward hydrogen and ethanol

Semiconducting metal oxide based gas sensors usually operate in the temperature range 200–500 °C. In this paper, we present a new WO3 thin film based gas sensor for H2 and C2H5OH, operating at 150 °C. Nanostructured WO3 thin films were synthesized by thermal evaporation method. The properties of the as-deposited films were modified by annealing in air at 300 °C and 400 °C. Various analytical techniques such as AFM, TEM, XPS, XRD and Raman spectroscopy have been employed to characterize their properties. A clear indication from TEM and XRD analysis is that the as-deposited WO3 films are highly amorphous and no improvement is observed in the crystallinity of the films after annealing at 300 °C. Annealing at 400 °C significantly improved the crystalline properties of the films with the formation of about 5 nm grains. The films annealed at 300 °C show no response to C2H5OH (ethanol) and a little response to H2, with maximum response obtained at 280 °C. The films annealed at 400 °C show a very good response to H2 and a moderate response to C2H5OH (ethanol) at 150 °C. XPS analysis revealed that annealing of the WO3 thin films at 400 °C produces a significant change in stoichiometry, increasing the number of oxygen vacancies in the film, which is highly beneficial for gas sensing. Our results demonstrate that gas sensors with significant performance at low operating temperatures can be obtained by annealing the WO3 films at 400 °C and optimizing the crystallinity and nanostructure of the as-deposited films

Pt/SnO2 nanowires/SiC based hydrogen gas sensor

Pt/SnO2 nanowires/SiC based metal-oxidesemiconductor (MOS) devices were fabricated and tested for their gas sensitivity towards hydrogen. Tin oxide (SnO2) nanowires were grown on SiC substrates by the vapour liquid solid growth process. The material properties of the SnO2 nanowires such as its formation and dimensions were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The currentvoltage (I-V) characteristics at different hydrogen concentrations are presented. The effective change in the barrier height for 0.06 and 1% hydrogen were found to be 20.78 and 131.59 meV, respectively. A voltage shift of 310 mV at 530°C for 1% hydrogen was measured

Polyvinylpyrrolidone/polyaniline composite based 36° YX LiTaO3 surface acoustic wave H2 gas sensor

Poly-vinyl-pyrrolidone (PVP)/polyaniline based surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors were fabricated and characterized and their performances towards hydrogen gas were investigated. The PVP/polyaniline fibers composite were prepared by electrospinning of the composite aqueous solution deposited directly onto the active area of SAW transducers. Via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the morphology of the deposited nanostructure material was observed. From the dynamic response, frequency shifts of 6.243 kHz (1% H2) and 8.051 kHz (1%were recorded for the sensors deposited with PVP/ES and PVP/EB, respectively

Hydrogen gas sensing performance of a Pt/graphene/SiC device

In this work, we present the development of a Pt/graphene/SiC device for hydrogen gas sensing. A single layer of graphene was deposited on 6H-SiC via chemical vapor deposition. The presence of graphene C-C bonds was observed via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. Current-voltage characteristics of the device were measured at the presence of hydrogen at different temperatures, from 25°C to 170°C. The dynamic response of the device was recorded towards hydrogen gas at an optimum temperature of 130°C. A voltage shift of 191 mV was recorded towards 1% hydrogen at −1 mA constant current