A gradient microarray electronic nose based on percolating SnO(2) nanowire sensing elements

Enhanced Interface Charge Carrier Transport of SnO2/CeO2 via Oxygen Vacancy Synergized Heterojunction for Triethylamine Sensing Property

Efficient charge carrier transport characteristics are critical to achieving the excellent performance of metal-oxide semiconductor gas sensors. Herein, SnO2/CeO2 heterojunction layered nanosheets with abundant oxygen vacancies were successfully synthesized through a simple solvothermal assisted high-temperature calcination method. The synergistic effect of oxygen vacancies and heterojunctions promoting the charge carrier transport properties at the SnO2/CeO2 interface for the enhanced sensing properties of triethylamine (TEA) was highlighted. As a result, the optimized SnO2/CeO2 exhibits improved gas sensing performance at 173 °C to 50 ppm of TEA. These include high response (205), excellent selectivity, low detection limit, and good long-term stability. This enhanced gas sensing property of SnO2/CeO2 is mainly attributed to the fact that the heterojunction and oxygen vacancies act as dual active sites synergistically inducing electron transfer, thereby effectively modulating the transport properties of the interfacial charge carriers, and thus facilitate the surface reactions efficiently. In this work, the dual-engineering strategy of synergistic interaction of heterojunction and oxygen vacancies can provide new perspectives for the design of advanced gas sensing materials.

Emerging trends in metal oxide-based electronic noses for healthcare applications: a review

An electronic nose (E-nose) is a technology fundamentally inspired by the human nose, designed to detect, recognize, and differentiate specific odors or volatile components in complex and chaotic environments. Comprising an array of sensors with meticulously designed nanostructured architectures, E-noses translate the chemical information captured by these sensors into useful metrics using complex pattern recognition algorithms. E-noses can significantly enhance the quality of life by offering preventive point-of-care devices for medical diagnostics through breath analysis, and by monitoring and tracking hazardous and toxic gases in the environment. They are increasingly being used in defense and surveillance, medical diagnostics, agriculture, environmental monitoring, and product validation and authentication. The major challenge in developing a reliable E-nose involves miniaturization and low power consumption. Various sensing materials are employed to address these issues. This review presents the key advancements over the last decade in E-nose technology, specifically focusing on chemiresistive metal oxide sensing materials. It discusses their sensing mechanisms, integration into portable E-noses, and various data analysis techniques. Additionally, we review the primary metal oxide-based E-noses for disease detection through breath analysis. Finally, we address the major challenges and issues in developing and implementing a portable metal oxide-based E-nose.

Quantum Gas-Enabled Direct Mapping of Active Current Density in Percolating Networks of Nanowires

Electrically percolating nanowire networks are among the most promising candidates for next-generation transparent electrodes. Scientific interest in these materials stems from their intrinsic current distribution heterogeneity, leading to phenomena like percolating pathway rerouting and localized self-heating, which can cause irreversible damage. Without an experimental technique to resolve the current distribution and an underpinning nonlinear percolation model, one relies on empirical rules and safety factors to engineer materials. We introduce Bose-Einstein condensate microscopy to address the longstanding problem of imaging active current flow in 2D materials. We report on performance improvement of this technique whereby observation of dynamic redistribution of current pathways becomes feasible. We show how this, combined with existing thermal imaging methods, eliminates the need for assumptions between electrical and thermal properties. This will enable testing and modeling individual junction behavior and hot-spot formation. Investigating both reversible and irreversible mechanisms will contribute to improved performance and reliability of devices.

Prompt Electronic Discrimination of Gas Molecules by Self-Heating Temperature Modulation

Though considerable progress has been achieved on gas molecule recognition by electronic nose (e-nose) comprised of nonselective (metal oxide) semiconductor chemiresistors, extracting adequate molecular features within short time (<1 s) remains a big obstacle, which hinders the emerging e-nose applications in lethal or explosive gas warning. Herein, by virtue of the ultrafast (∼20 μs) thermal relaxation time of self-heated WO3-based chemiresistors fabricated via oblique angle deposition, instead of external heating, self-heating temperature modulation has been proposed to generate sufficient electrical response features. Accurate discrimination of 12 gases (including 3 xylene isomers with the same function group and molecular weight) has been readily achieved within 0.5-1 s, which is one order faster than the state-of-the-art e-noses. A smart wireless e-nose, capable of instantaneously discriminating target gas in ambient air background, has been developed, paving the way for the practical applications of e-nose in the area of homeland security and public health.

Recent Advances in Nanomechanical Membrane-Type Surface Stress Sensors towards Artificial Olfaction

Nanomechanical sensors have gained significant attention as powerful tools for detecting, distinguishing, and identifying target analytes, especially odors that are composed of a complex mixture of gaseous molecules. Nanomechanical sensors and their arrays are a promising platform for artificial olfaction in combination with data processing technologies, including machine learning techniques. This paper reviews the background of nanomechanical sensors, especially conventional cantilever-type sensors. Then, we focus on one of the optimized structures for static mode operation, a nanomechanical Membrane-type Surface stress Sensor (MSS), and discuss recent advances in MSS and their applications towards artificial olfaction.

Effect of the Microstructure of ZnO Thin Films Prepared by PLD on Their Performance as Toxic Gas Sensors

In 2008, the modified European Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive prohibited the use of hazardous substances such as lead, cadmium, and mercury. As such, an urgent need for lead-free components emerged in Europe. In this frame, we have decided to study the microstructure influence of zinc oxide thin films on the detection of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Zinc oxide thin films were deposited by PLD on silicon substrates under different conditions to modify the microstructure. In order to compare our demonstrators to current commercial semiconductor gas sensors, measurements under H2S were also performed with sensors from Figaro and Winsen corporations. Gas sensors were therefore implemented by using commercial cases in view to test them with Simtronics gas detector DG477. The good sensitivity values measured at T = 400 °C under 100 ppm H2S, and response times as low as 30 s, definitely confirm that ZnO thin films could be developed for commercial sensors.

Humidity-Tolerant Chemiresistive Gas Sensors Based on Hydrophobic CeO2/SnO2 Heterostructure Films

The accelerated evolution of the Internet of Things has brought new challenges to the gas sensors, which are required to work persistently under harsh conditions, like high humidity. However, currently, it is quite challenging to solve the hindrance of the trade-off between gas-sensing performance and anti-humidity ability of the chemiresistive gas sensors. Herein, hydrophobic inorganic CeO₂/SnO₂ heterostructure films were prepared by depositing the CeO₂ layers with a thickness of a few nanometers onto the SnO₂ film via a magnetron sputtering method. The sensors based on the CeO₂/SnO₂ heterostructure films demonstrated excellent gas-sensing performance toward trimethylamine (TEA) with high response, wide detection range (0.04-500 ppm), low record detection limit (0.04 ppm), ideal reproducibility, and long-term stability, while concurrently possessing promising anti-humidity ability. A portable, wireless TEA-sensing system containing the CeO₂/SnO₂ sensor was constructed to realize the real-time monitoring of trace concentration of the volatiles released from a fish. This work provides a novel strategy to prepare advanced chemiresistive gas sensors for humidity-independent detection of harmful gases and vapors and will accelerate their commercialization process in the field of food safety and public health.

Nanowire-based sensor electronics for chemical and biological applications

Detection and recognition of chemical and biological species via sensor electronics are important not only for various sensing applications but also for fundamental scientific understanding. In the past two decades, sensor devices using one-dimensional (1D) nanowires have emerged as promising and powerful platforms for electrical detection of chemical species and biologically relevant molecules due to their superior sensing performance, long-term stability, and ultra-low power consumption. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the recent progress and achievements in 1D nanowire synthesis, working principles of nanowire-based sensors, and the applications of nanowire-based sensor electronics in chemical and biological analytes detection and recognition. In addition, some critical issues that hinder the practical applications of 1D nanowire-based sensor electronics, including device reproducibility and selectivity, stability, and power consumption, will be highlighted. Finally, challenges, perspectives, and opportunities for developing advanced and innovative nanowire-based sensor electronics in chemical and biological applications are featured.

Sensing Performance of Thermal Electronic Noses: A Comparison between ZnO and SnO2 Nanowires

In recent times, an increasing number of applications in different fields need gas sensors that are miniaturized but also capable of distinguishing different gases and volatiles. Thermal electronic noses are new devices that meet this need, but their performance is still under study. In this work, we compare the performance of two thermal electronic noses based on SnO2 and ZnO nanowires. Using five different target gases (acetone, ammonia, ethanol, hydrogen and nitrogen dioxide), we investigated the ability of the systems to distinguish individual gases and estimate their concentration. SnO2 nanowires proved to be more suitable for this purpose with a detection limit of 32 parts per billion, an always correct classification (100%) and a mean absolute error of 7 parts per million.

Recent Trends in Exhaled Breath Diagnosis Using an Artificial Olfactory System

Artificial olfactory systems are needed in various fields that require real-time monitoring, such as healthcare. This review introduces cases of detection of specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in a patient's exhaled breath and discusses trends in disease diagnosis technology development using artificial olfactory technology that analyzes exhaled human breath. We briefly introduce algorithms that classify patterns of odors (VOC profiles) and describe artificial olfactory systems based on nanosensors. On the basis of recently published research results, we describe the development trend of artificial olfactory systems based on the pattern-recognition gas sensor array technology and the prospects of application of this technology to disease diagnostic devices. Medical technologies that enable early monitoring of health conditions and early diagnosis of diseases are crucial in modern healthcare. By regularly monitoring health status, diseases can be prevented or treated at an early stage, thus increasing the human survival rate and reducing the overall treatment costs. This review introduces several promising technical fields with the aim of developing technologies that can monitor health conditions and diagnose diseases early by analyzing exhaled human breath in real time.

UV-Responsive Screen-Printed Porous ZnO Nanostructures on Office Paper for Sustainable and Foldable Electronics

The fabrication of low-cost, flexible, and recyclable electronic devices has been the focus of many research groups, particularly for integration in wearable technology and the Internet of Things (IoT). In this work, porous zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures are incorporated as a UV sensing material into the composition of a sustainable water-based screen-printable ink composed of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The formulated ink is used to fabricate flexible and foldable UV sensors on ubiquitous office paper. The screen-printed CMC/ZnO UV sensors operate under low voltage (≤2 V) and reveal a stable response over several on/off cycles of UV light exposure. The devices reach a response current of 1.34 ± 0.15 mA and a rise and fall time of 8.2 ± 1.0 and 22.0 ± 2.3 s, respectively. The responsivity of the sensor is 432 ± 48 mA W−1, which is the highest value reported in the literature for ZnO-based UV sensors on paper substrates. The UV-responsive devices display impressive mechanical endurance under folding, showing a decrease in responsivity of only 21% after being folded 1000 times. Their low-voltage operation and extreme folding stability indicate a bright future for low-cost and sustainable flexible electronics, showing potential for low-power wearable applications and smart packaging.

The UV Effect on the Chemiresistive Response of ZnO Nanostructures to Isopropanol and Benzene at PPM Concentrations in Mixture with Dry and Wet Air

Towards the development of low-power miniature gas detectors, there is a high interest in the research of light-activated metal oxide gas sensors capable to operate at room temperature (RT). Herein, we study ZnO nanostructures grown by the electrochemical deposition method over Si/SiO2 substrates equipped by multiple Pt electrodes to serve as on-chip gas monitors and thoroughly estimate its chemiresistive performance upon exposing to two model VOCs, isopropanol and benzene, in a wide operating temperature range, from RT to 350 °C, and LED-powered UV illumination, 380 nm wavelength; the dry air and humid-enriched, 50 rel. %, air are employed as a background. We show that the UV activation allows one to get a distinctive chemiresistive signal of the ZnO sensor to isopropanol at RT regardless of the interfering presence of H2O vapors. On the contrary, the benzene vapors do not react with UV-illuminated ZnO at RT under dry air while the humidity’s appearance gives an opportunity to detect this gas. Still, both VOCs are well detected by the ZnO sensor under heating at a 200–350 °C range independently on additional UV exciting. We employ quantum chemical calculations to explain the differences between these two VOCs’ interactions with ZnO surface by a remarkable distinction of the binding energies characterizing single molecules, which is −0.44 eV in the case of isopropanol and −3.67 eV in the case of benzene. The full covering of a ZnO supercell by H2O molecules taken for the effect’s estimation shifts the binding energies to −0.50 eV and −0.72 eV, respectively. This theory insight supports the experimental observation that benzene could not react with ZnO surface at RT under employed LED UV without humidity’s presence, indifference to isopropanol.

Enhanced Sensing Ability of Brush-Like Fe2O3-ZnO Nanostructures towards NO2 Gas via Manipulating Material Synergistic Effect

Brush-like α-Fe2O3-ZnO heterostructures were synthesized through a sputtering ZnO seed-assisted hydrothermal growth method. The resulting heterostructures consisted of α-Fe2O3 rod templates and ZnO branched crystals with an average diameter of approximately 12 nm and length of 25 nm. The gas-sensing results demonstrated that the α-Fe2O3-ZnO heterostructure-based sensor exhibited excellent sensitivity, selectivity, and stability toward low-concentration NO2 gas at an optimal temperature of 300 °C. The α-Fe2O3-ZnO sensor, in particular, demonstrated substantially higher sensitivity compared with pristine α-Fe2O3, along with faster response and recovery speeds under similar test conditions. An appropriate material synergic effect accounts for the considerable enhancement in the NO2 gas-sensing performance of the α-Fe2O3-ZnO heterostructures.

Responsive Thin-Film Interference Colors from Polaronic Conjugated Block Copolymers

Colors responsive to the chemical environment can form the basis for simple and highly accessible diagnostic tools. Herein, the charge modulation of conjugated polymers is demonstrated as a new mechanism for chemically responsive structural colors based on thin-film interference. A liquid-liquid interfacial self-assembly is employed to create a conjugated block copolymer film that is flexible, transferable, and highly homogeneous in thickness over a large area. Gold (Au) complexes are introduced in the self-assembly process for in situ oxidation of conjugated polymers into a hole-polaronic state that renders the polymer film responsive to the chemical environment. When transferred onto a reflective substrate, the film shows thickness-dependent tunable reflective colors due to the optical interference. Furthermore, it experiences drastic changes in its dielectric behavior upon switching of the polaronic state, thereby enabling large modulations to the interferometric colors. Such responsive thin-film colors, in turn, can be used as a simple and intuitive multicolor readout for the recognition of reductive vapors including biological decomposition products.

Recent advances in energy-saving chemiresistive gas sensors: A review

With the tremendous advances in technology, gas-sensing devices are being popularly used in many distinct areas, including indoor environments, industries, aviation, and detectors for various toxic domestic gases and vapors. Even though the most popular type of gas sensor, namely, resistive-based gas sensors, have many advantages over other types of gas sensors, their high working temperatures lead to high energy consumption, thereby limiting their practical applications, especially in mobile and portable devices. As possible ways to deal with the high-power consumption of resistance-based sensors, different strategies such as self-heating, MEMS technology, and room-temperature operation using especial morphologies, have been introduced in recent years. In this review, we discuss different types of energy-saving chemisresitive gas sensors including self-heated gas sensors, MEMS based gas sensors, room temperature operated flexible/wearable sensor and their application in the fields of environmental monitoring. At the end, the review will be concluded by providing a summary, challenges, recent trends, and future perspectives.

Single CuO/Cu2O/Cu Microwire Covered by a Nanowire Network as a Gas Sensor for the Detection of Battery Hazards

In this study, a strategy to prepare CuO/Cu₂O/Cu microwires that are fully covered by a nanowire (NW) network using a simple thermal-oxidation process is developed. The CuO/Cu₂O/Cu microwires are fixed on Au/Cr pads with Cu microparticles. After thermal annealing at 425 °C, these CuO/Cu₂O/Cu microwires are used as room-temperature 2-propanol sensors. These sensors show different dominating gas responses with operating temperatures, e.g., higher sensitivity to ethanol at 175 °C, higher sensitivity to 2-propanol at room temperature and 225 °C, and higher sensitivity to hydrogen gas at ∼300 °C. In this context, we propose the sensing mechanism of this three-in-one sensor based on CuO/Cu₂O/Cu. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies reveal that the annealing time during oxidation affects the chemical appearance of the sensor, while the intensity of reflections proves that for samples oxidized at 425 °C for 1 h the dominating phase is Cu₂O, whereas upon further increasing the annealing duration up to 5 h, the CuO phase becomes dominant. The crystal structures of the Cu₂O-shell/Cu-core and the CuO NW networks on the surface were confirmed with a transmission electron microscope (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED), where (HR)TEM micrographs reveal the monoclinic CuO phase. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations bring valuable inputs to the interactions of the different gas molecules with the most stable top surface of CuO, revealing strong binding, electronic band-gap changes, and charge transfer due to the gas molecule interactions with the top surface. This research shows the importance of the nonplanar CuO/Cu₂O layered heterostructure as a bright nanomaterial for the detection of various gases, controlled by the working temperature, and the insight presented here will be of significant value in the fabrication of new p-type sensing devices through simple nanotechnology.

Current Trends in Nanomaterials for Metal Oxide-Based Conductometric Gas Sensors: Advantages and Limitations. Part 1: 1D and 2D Nanostructures

This article discusses the main uses of 1D and 2D nanomaterials in the development of conductometric gas sensors based on metal oxides. It is shown that, along with the advantages of these materials, which can improve the parameters of gas sensors, there are a number of disadvantages that significantly limit their use in the development of devices designed for the sensor market.

The Multisensor Array Based on Grown-On-Chip Zinc Oxide Nanorod Network for Selective Discrimination of Alcohol Vapors at Sub-ppm Range

We discuss the fabrication of gas-analytical multisensor arrays based on ZnO nanorods grown via a hydrothermal route directly on a multielectrode chip. The protocol to deposit the nanorods over the chip includes the primary formation of ZnO nano-clusters over the surface and secondly the oxide hydrothermal growth in a solution that facilitates the appearance of ZnO nanorods in the high aspect ratio which comprise a network. We have tested the proof-of-concept prototype of the ZnO nanorod network-based chip heated up to 400 °C versus three alcohol vapors, ethanol, isopropanol and butanol, at approx. 0.2-5 ppm concentrations when mixed with dry air. The results indicate that the developed chip is highly sensitive to these analytes with a detection limit down to the sub-ppm range. Due to the pristine differences in ZnO nanorod network density the chip yields a vector signal which enables the discrimination of various alcohols at a reasonable degree via processing by linear discriminant analysis even at a sub-ppm concentration range suitable for practical applications.

3D Multi-Branched SnO2 Semiconductor Nanostructures as Optical Waveguides

Nanostructures with complex geometry have gathered interest recently due to some unusual and exotic properties associated with both their shape and material. 3D multi-branched SnO₂ one-dimensional nanostructrures, characterized by a “node”—i.e., the location where two or more branches originate, are the ideal platform to distribute signals of different natures. In this work, we study how this particular geometrical configuration affects light propagation when a light source (i.e., laser) is focused onto it. Combining scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical analysis along with Raman and Rayleigh scattering upon illumination, we were able to understand, in more detail, the mechanism behind the light-coupling occurring at the node. Our experimental findings show that multi-branched semiconductor 1D structures have great potential as optically active nanostructures with waveguiding properties, thus paving the way for their application as novel building blocks for optical communication networks.

Highly Sensitive and Selective H2S Chemical Sensor Based on ZnO Nanomaterial

ZnO is worth evaluating for chemical sensing due to its outstanding physical and chemical properties. We report the fabrication and study of the gas sensing properties of ZnO nanomaterial for the detection of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). This prepared material exhibited a 7400 gas sensing response when exposed to 30 ppm of H2S in air. In addition, the structure showed a high selectivity towards H2S against other reducing gases. The high sensing performance of the structure was attributed to its nanoscale size, morphology and the disparity in the sensing mechanism between the H2S and other reducing gases. We suggest that the work reported here including the simplicity of device fabrication is a significant step toward the application of ZnO nanomaterials in chemical gas sensing systems for the real-time detection of H2S.

New strategy towards the assembly of hierarchical heterostructures of SnO2/ZnO for NO2 detection at a ppb level

The SnO₂/ZnO hierarchical heterostructures (HHSs) were synthesized via the microwave-assisted hydrothermal method, and the SnO₂/ZnO HHSs based sensor exhibited ultra-low detection limit of 2 ppb for detecting NO₂.

Indium Nitrite (InN)-Based Ultrasensitive and Selective Ammonia Sensor Using an External Silicone Oil Filter for Medical Application

Ammonia is an essential biomarker for noninvasive diagnosis of liver malfunction. Therefore, selective detection of ammonia is essential for medical application. Here, we demonstrate a portable device to selectively detect sub-ppm ammonia gas. The presented gas sensor is composed of a Pt coating on top of an ultrathin Indium nitrite (InN) epilayer with a lower detection limit of 0.2 ppm, at operating temperature of 200 °C, and detection time of 1 min. The sensor connected with the external filter of nonpolar 500 CS silicone oil to diagnose liver malfunction. The absorption of 0.7 ppm acetone and 0.4 ppm ammonia gas in 10 cc silicone oil is 80% (0.56 ppm) and 21.11% (0.084 ppm), respectively, with a flow rate of 10 cc/min at 25 °C. The absorption of acetone gas is 6.66-fold higher as compared to ammonia gas. The percentage variation in response for 0.7 ppm ammonia and 0.7 ppm acetone with and without silicone oil on InN sensor is 17.5% and 4%, and 22.5%, and 14% respectively. Furthermore, the percentage variation in response for 0.7 ppm ammonia gas with silicone oil on InN sensor is 4.3-fold higher than that of 0.7 ppm acetone. The results show that the InN sensor is suitable for diagnosis of liver malfunction.

Site-Specific Growth and in Situ Integration of Different Nanowire Material Networks on a Single Chip: Toward a Nanowire-Based Electronic Nose for Gas Detection

A new method for the site-selective synthesis of nanowires has been developed to enable material growth with defined morphology and, at the same time, different composition on the same chip surface. The chemical vapor deposition approach for the growth of these nanowire-based resistive devices using micromembranes can be easily modified and represents a simple, adjustable fabrication process for the direct integration of nanowire meshes in multifunctional devices. This proof-of-concept study includes the deposition of SnO₂, WO₃, and Ge nanowires on the same chip. The individual resistors exhibit adequate gas sensing responses toward changing gas concentrations of CO, NO₂, and humidity diluted in synthetic air. The data have been processed by principal component analysis with cluster responses that can be easily separated, and thus, the devices described herein are in principle suitable for environmental monitoring.

Ordered Mesoporous Tin Oxide Semiconductors with Large Pores and Crystallized Walls for High-Performance Gas Sensing

Owing to their distinct chemical and physical properties, mesoporous metal oxide semiconductors have shown great application potential in catalysis, electrochemistry, energy conversion, and energy storage. In this study, mesoporous crystalline SnO₂ materials have been synthesized through an evaporation-induced co-assembly (EICA) method using poly(ethylene oxide)-b-polystyrene diblock copolymers as the template, tin chlorides as the tin sources, and tetrahydrofuran as the solvent. By controlling conditions of the co-assembly process and employing a carbon-supported thermal treatment strategy, highly ordered mesoporous SnO₂ materials with a hexagonal mesostructure (space group P6₃/mmc) and crystalline pore walls can be obtained. The mesoporous SnO₂ is employed for fabricating gas sensor nanodevices which exhibit an excellent sensing performance toward H₂S with high sensitivity (170, 50 ppm) and superior stability, owing to its high surface area (98 m²/g), well-connected mesopores of ca. 18.0 nm, and high density of active sites in the crystalline pore walls. The chemical mechanism study reveals that both SO₂ and SnS₂ are generated during the gas sensing process on the SnO₂-based sensors.

The Room-Temperature Chemiresistive Properties of Potassium Titanate Whiskers versus Organic Vapors

The development of portable gas-sensing units implies a special care of their power efficiency, which is often approached by operation at room temperature. This issue primarily appeals to a choice of suitable materials whose functional properties are sensitive toward gas vapors at these conditions. While the gas sensitivity is nowadays advanced by employing the materials at nano-dimensional domain, the room temperature operation might be targeted via the application of layered solid-state electrolytes, like titanates. Here, we report gas-sensitive properties of potassium titanate whiskers, which are placed over a multielectrode chip by drop casting from suspension to yield a matrix mono-layer of varied density. The material synthesis conditions are straightforward both to get stable single-crystalline quasi-one-dimensional whiskers with a great extent of potassium replacement and to favor the increase of specific surface area of the structures. The whisker layer is found to be sensitive towards volatile organic compounds (ethanol, isopropanol, acetone) in the mixture with air at room temperature. The vapor identification is obtained via processing the vector signal generated by sensor array of the multielectrode chip with the help of pattern recognition algorithms.

Core to shell switching of the conduction channel on SnO2 nanowire sensors

A sensor based on random connections of single-crystalline SnO₂ nanowires (NWs) has been fabricated for ethanol detection. The NW length of ∼10 μm leads to the formation of several random node connections between the Ag electrodes. The samples were subjected to thermal treatments under a reducing atmosphere of H₂/Ar, to generate oxygen vacancies at the surface of the NWs. As a result, the core conduction channel of the NWs, where the conduction is based on electron hopping through the potential barriers at the contact nodes, switch to the surface of the NWs by the creation of an impurity band of shallow donors located at 0.347 eV below the conduction band. We suggest that the H₂-rich atmosphere of the thermal treatments induced the formation of interstitial hydrogen (H _i ) and substitutional hydrogen (H_O), which are shallow donors with low formation energy.

Sensing performances of pure and hybridized carbon nanotubes-ZnO nanowire networks: A detailed study

In this work, the influence of carbon nanotube (CNT) hybridization on ultraviolet (UV) and gas sensing properties of individual and networked ZnO nanowires (NWs) is investigated in detail. The CNT concentration was varied to achieve optimal conditions for the hybrid with improved sensing properties. In case of CNT decorated ZnO nanonetworks, the influence of relative humidity (RH) and applied bias voltage on the UV sensing properties was thoroughly studied. By rising the CNT content to about 2.0 wt% (with respect to the entire ZnO network) the UV sensing response is considerably increased from 150 to 7300 (about 50 times). With respect to gas sensing, the ZnO-CNT networks demonstrate an excellent selectivity as well as a high gas response to NH₃ vapor. A response of 430 to 50 ppm at room temperature was obtained, with an estimated detection limit of about 0.4 ppm. Based on those results, several devices consisting of individual ZnO NWs covered with CNTs were fabricated using a FIB/SEM system. The highest sensing performance was obtained for the finest NW with diameter (D) of 100 nm,  with a response of about 4 to 10 ppm NH₃ vapor at room temperature.

The Potentiodynamic Bottom-up Growth of the Tin Oxide Nanostructured Layer for Gas-Analytical Multisensor Array Chips

We report a deposition of the tin oxide/hydroxide nanostructured layer by the potentiodynamic method from acidic nitrate solutions directly over the substrate, equipped with multiple strip electrodes which is employed as a gas-analytical multisensor array chip. The electrochemical synthesis is set to favor the growth of the tin oxide/hydroxide phase, while the appearance of metallic Sn is suppressed by cycling. The as-synthesized tin oxide/hydroxide layer is characterized by mesoporous morphology with grains, 250-300 nm diameter, which are further crystallized into fine SnO₂ poly-nanocrystals following heating to 300 °C for 24 h just on the chip. The fabricated layer exhibits chemiresistive properties under exposure to organic vapors, which allows the generation of a multisensor vector signal capable of selectively distinguishing various vapors.

Single and Networked ZnO-CNT Hybrid Tetrapods for Selective Room-Temperature High-Performance Ammonia Sensors

Highly porous hybrid materials with unique high-performance properties have attracted great interest from the scientific community, especially in the field of gas-sensing applications. In this work, tetrapodal-ZnO (ZnO-T) networks were functionalized with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to form a highly efficient hybrid sensing material (ZnO-T-CNT) for ultrasensitive, selective, and rapid detection of ammonia (NH₃) vapor at room temperature. By functionalizing the ZnO-T networks with 2.0 wt % of CNTs by a simple dripping procedure, an increase of 1 order of magnitude in response (from about 37 to 330) was obtained. Additionally, the response and recovery times were improved (by decreasing them from 58 and 61 s to 18 and 35 s, respectively). The calculated lowest detection limit of 200 ppb shows the excellent potential of the ZnO-T-CNT networks as NH₃ vapor sensors. Room temperature operation of such networked ZnO-CNT hybrid tetrapods shows an excellent long-time stability of the fabricated sensors. Additionally, the gas-sensing mechanism was identified and elaborated based on the high porosity of the used three-dimensional networks and the excellent conductivity of the CNTs. On top of that, several single hybrid microtetrapod-based devices were fabricated (from samples with 2.0 wt % CNTs) with the help of the local metal deposition function of a focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy instrument. The single microdevices are based on tetrapods with arms having a diameter of around 0.35 μm and show excellent NH₃ sensing performance with a gas response (I_gas/I_air) of 6.4. Thus, the fabricated functional networked ZnO-CNT hybrid tetrapods will allow to detect ammonia and to quantify its concentration in automotive, environmental monitoring, chemical industry, and medical diagnostics.

Novel Self-Heated Gas Sensors Using on-Chip Networked Nanowires with Ultralow Power Consumption

The length of single crystalline nanowires (NWs) offers a perfect pathway for electron transfer, while the small diameter of the NWs hampers thermal losses to tje environment, substrate, and metal electrodes. Therefore, Joule self-heating effect is nearly ideal for operating NW gas sensors at ultralow power consumption, without additional heaters. The realization of the self-heated NW sensors using the "pick and place" approach is complex, hardly reproducible, low yield, and not applicable for mass production. Here, we present the sensing capability of the self-heated networked SnO₂ NWs effectively prepared by on-chip growth. Our developed self-heated sensors exhibit a good response of 25.6 to 2.5 ppm NO₂ gas, while the response to 500 ppm H₂, 100 ppm NH₃, 100 ppm H₂S, and 500 ppm C₂H₅OH is very low, indicating the good selectivity of the sensors to NO₂ gas. Furthermore, the detection limit is very low, down to 82 parts-per-trillion. As-obtained sensing performance under self-heating mode is nearly identical to that under external heating mode. While the power consumption under self-heating mode is extremely low, around hundreds of microwatts, as scaled-down the size of the electrode is below 10 μm. The selectivity of the sensors can be controlled simply by tuning the loading power that enables simple detection of NO₂ in mixed gases. Remarkable performance together with a significantly facile fabrication process of the present sensors enhances the potential application of NW sensors in next generation technologies such as electronic noses, the Internet of Things, and smartphone sensing.

Binary coded identification of industrial chemical vapors with an optofluidic nose

An artificial nose system for the recognition and classification of gas-phase analytes and its application in identifying common industrial gases is reported. The sensing mechanism of the device comprises the measurement of infrared absorption of volatile analytes inside the hollow cores of optofluidic Bragg fibers. An array of six fibers is used, where each fiber targets a different region of the mid-infrared in the range of 2-14 μm with transmission bandwidths of about 1-3 μm. The quenching in the transmission of each fiber due to the presence of analyte molecules in the hollow core is measured separately and the cross response of the array allows the identification of virtually any volatile organic compound (VOC). The device was used for the identification of seven industrial VOC vapors with high selectivity using a standard blackbody source and an infrared detector. The array response is registered as a unique six digit binary code for each analyte by assigning a threshold value to the fiber transmissions. The developed prototype is a comprehensive and versatile artificial nose that is applicable to a wide range of analytes.

Design of Highly Selective Gas Sensors via Physicochemical Modification of Oxide Nanowires: Overview

Strategies for the enhancement of gas sensing properties, and specifically the improvement of gas selectivity of metal oxide semiconductor nanowire (NW) networks grown by chemical vapor deposition and thermal evaporation, are reviewed. Highly crystalline NWs grown by vapor-phase routes have various advantages, and thus have been applied in the field of gas sensors over the years. In particular, n-type NWs such as SnO₂, ZnO, and In₂O₃ are widely studied because of their simple synthetic preparation and high gas response. However, due to their usually high responses to C₂H₅OH and NO₂, the selective detection of other harmful and toxic gases using oxide NWs remains a challenging issue. Various strategies—such as doping/loading of noble metals, decorating/doping of catalytic metal oxides, and the formation of core–shell structures—have been explored to enhance gas selectivity and sensitivity, and are discussed herein. Additional methods such as the transformation of n-type into p-type NWs and the formation of catalyst-doped hierarchical structures by branch growth have also proven to be promising for the enhancement of gas selectivity. Accordingly, the physicochemical modification of oxide NWs via various methods provides new strategies to achieve the selective detection of a specific gas, and after further investigations, this approach could pave a new way in the field of NW-based semiconductor-type gas sensors.

A Single Nanobelt Transistor for Gas Identification: Using a Gas-Dielectric Strategy

Despite tremendous potential and urgent demand in high-response low-cost gas identification, the development of gas identification based on a metal oxide semiconductor nanowire/nanobelt remains limited by fabrication complexity and redundant signals. Researchers have shown a multisensor-array strategy with "one key to one lock" configuration. Here, we describe a new strategy to create high-response room-temperature gas identification by employing gas as dielectric. This enables gas discrimination down to the part per billion (ppb) level only based on one pristine single nanobelt transistor, with the excellent average Mahalanobis distance (MD) as high as 35 at the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) space. The single device realizes the selective recognition function of electronic nose. The effect of the gas dielectric on the response of the multiple field-effect parameters is discussed by the comparative investigation of gas and solid-dielectric devices and the studies on trap density changes in the conductive channel. The current work opens up exciting opportunities for room-temperature gas recognition based on the pristine single device.

Evidence of Universal Temperature Scaling in Self-Heated Percolating Networks

During routine operation, electrically percolating nanocomposites are subjected to high voltages, leading to spatially heterogeneous current distribution. The heterogeneity implies localized self-heating that may (self-consistently) reroute the percolation pathways and even irreversibly damage the material. In the absence of experiments that can spatially resolve the current distribution and a nonlinear percolation model suitable to interpret them, one relies on empirical rules and safety factors to engineer these materials. In this paper, we use ultrahigh resolution thermo-reflectance imaging, coupled with a new imaging processing technique, to map the spatial distribution ΔT(x, y; I) and histogram f(ΔT) of temperature rise due to self-heating in two types of 2D networks (percolating and copercolating). Remarkably, we find that the self-heating can be described by a simple two-parameter Weibull distribution, even under voltages high enough to reconfigure the percolation pathways. Given the generality of the phenomenological argument supporting the distribution, other percolating networks are likely to show similar stress distribution in response to sufficiently large stimuli. Furthermore, the spatial evolution of the self-heating of network was investigated by analyzing the spatial distribution and spatial correlation, respectively. An estimation of degree of hotspot clustering reveals a mechanism analogous to crystallization physics. The results should encourage nonlinear generalization of percolation models necessary for predictive engineering of nanocomposite materials.

Generation of highly ordered nanoporous Sb–SnO2 thin films with enhanced ethanol sensing performance at low temperature

Highly ordered nanoporous Sb–SnO₂ sensing films synthesized through psHT treatment present high sensitivity to 50 ppm ethanol at low temperature.

Potassium polytitanate gas-sensor study by impedance spectroscopy

Nanocrystalline potassium polytitanates K2O·nTiO2·mH2O represent a new type of semiconducting compounds which are characterized by a high specific surface that makes them promising for use in gas sensors. In this work, we have studied potassium polytitanate mesoporous nanoparticle agglomerates placed over a SiO2/Si substrate equipped with multiple coplanar electrodes to measure the electrical response to various organic vapors, 1000 ppm of concentration, mixed with air by impedance spectrometry in range of the 10(-2)-10(6) Hz. The recorded impedance data for each sensor segment are associated with RC components of an equivalent circuit which are applied to selectively recognize the test vapors exploiting a "multisensor array" approach.

Ultrathin Gas Permeable Oxide Membranes for Chemical Sensing: Nanoporous Ta₂O₅ Test Study

Conductometric gas sensors made of gas permeable metal oxide ultrathin membranes can combine the functions of a selective filter, preconcentrator, and sensing element and thus can be particularly promising for the active sampling of diluted analytes. Here we report a case study of the electron transport and gas sensing properties of such a membrane made of nanoporous Ta₂O₅. These membranes demonstrated a noticeable chemical sensitivity toward ammonia, ethanol, and acetone at high temperatures above 400 °C. Different from traditional thin films, such gas permeable, ultrathin gas sensing elements can be made suspended enabling advanced architectures of ultrasensitive analytical systems operating at high temperatures and in harsh environments.

Signal-to-Noise Enhancement of a Nanospring Redox-Based Sensor by Lock-in Amplification

A significant improvement of the response characteristics of a redox chemical gas sensor (chemiresistor) constructed with a single ZnO coated silica nanospring has been achieved with the technique of lock-in signal amplification. The comparison of DC and analog lock-in amplifier (LIA) AC measurements of the electrical sensor response to toluene vapor, at the ppm level, has been conducted. When operated in the DC detection mode, the sensor exhibits a relatively high sensitivity to the analyte vapor, as well as a low detection limit at the 10 ppm level. However, at 10 ppm the signal-to-noise ratio is 5 dB, which is less than desirable. When operated in the analog LIA mode, the signal-to-noise ratio at 10 ppm increases by 30 dB and extends the detection limit to the ppb range.

Micro/Nano gas sensors: a new strategy towards in-situ wafer-level fabrication of high-performance gas sensing chips

Nano-structured gas sensing materials, in particular nanoparticles, nanotubes, and nanowires, enable high sensitivity at a ppb level for gas sensors. For practical applications, it is highly desirable to be able to manufacture such gas sensors in batch and at low cost. We present here a strategy of in-situ wafer-level fabrication of the high-performance micro/nano gas sensing chips by naturally integrating microhotplatform (MHP) with nanopore array (NPA). By introducing colloidal crystal template, a wafer-level ordered homogenous SnO2 NPA is synthesized in-situ on a 4-inch MHP wafer, able to produce thousands of gas sensing units in one batch. The integration of micromachining process and nanofabrication process endues micro/nano gas sensing chips at low cost, high throughput, and with high sensitivity (down to ~20 ppb), fast response time (down to ~1 s), and low power consumption (down to ~30 mW). The proposed strategy of integrating MHP with NPA represents a versatile approach for in-situ wafer-level fabrication of high-performance micro/nano gas sensors for real industrial applications.

Dispersed SnO2 nanoparticles on MoS2 nanosheets for superior gas-sensing performances to ethanol

Novel composites with superior gas-sensing performance were successfully obtained by dispersing SnO₂ nanoparticles on the surfaces of MoS₂ nanosheets.

Co-doped branched ZnO nanowires for ultraselective and sensitive detection of xylene

Co-doped branched ZnO nanowires were prepared by multistep vapor-phase reactions for the ultraselective and sensitive detection of p-xylene. Highly crystalline ZnO NWs were transformed into CoO NWs by thermal evaporation of CoCl2 powder at 700 °C. The Co-doped ZnO branches were grown subsequently by thermal evaporation of Zn metal powder at 500 °C using CoO NWs as catalyst. The response (resistance ratio) of the Co-doped branched ZnO NW network sensor to 5 ppm p-xylene at 400 °C was 19.55, which was significantly higher than those to 5 ppm toluene, C2H5OH, and other interference gases. The sensitive and selective detection of p-xylene, particularly distinguishing among benzene, toluene, and xylene with lower cross-responses to C2H5OH, can be attributed to the tuned catalytic activity of Co components, which induces preferential dissociation of p-xylene into more active species, as well as the increase of chemiresistive variation due to the abundant formation of Schottky barriers between the branches.

The effect of the periodic boundary conditions of a ZnO-coated nanospring on its surface redox-induced electrical response

A redox chemical sensor (chemiresistor) was constructed with a single ZnO coated silica nanospring. The chemiresistor response to toluene vapor as a function of the sensor temperature (T(NS)) and vapor temperature (T(V)) was measured and analyzed. The maximum sensitivity of the single ZnO coated nanospring device occurred at the sensor temperature (T(NS)) of 310 °C and at the vapor temperature (T(V)) of 250 °C. The characteristics of the electrical response of a single ZnO coated nanospring device were compared to those of a ZnO thin film. The single ZnO nanospring sensor was less responsive to small changes in toluene concentration relative to the ZnO thin film, but has a lower ultimate detection level. A computational model to simulate an electrical response of the single nanospring sensor and the thin film indicated that the differences between their response characteristics is due to the geometry of the nanospring and corresponding periodic boundary conditions imposed by the nanospring geometry, which is absent in a thin film.

High-throughput heterogeneous integration of diverse nanomaterials on a single chip for sensing applications

There is a large variety of nanomaterials each with unique electronic, optical and sensing properties. However, there is currently no paradigm for integration of different nanomaterials on a single chip in a low-cost high-throughput manner. We present a high throughput integration approach based on spatially controlled dielectrophoresis executed sequentially for each nanomaterial type to realize a scalable array of individually addressable assemblies of graphene, carbon nanotubes, metal oxide nanowires and conductive polymers on a single chip. This is a first time where such a diversity of nanomaterials has been assembled on the same layer in a single chip. The resolution of assembly can range from mesoscale to microscale and is limited only by the size and spacing of the underlying electrodes on chip used for assembly. While many applications are possible, the utility of such an array is demonstrated with an example application of a chemical sensor array for detection of volatile organic compounds below parts-per-million sensitivity.

Acceptor-compensated charge transport and surface chemical reactions in Au-implanted SnO₂ nanowires

A new deep acceptor state is identified by density functional theory calculations, and physically activated by an Au ion implantation technique to overcome the high energy barriers. And an acceptor-compensated charge transport mechanism that controls the chemical sensing performance of Au-implanted SnO₂ nanowires is established. Subsequently, an equation of electrical resistance is set up as a function of the thermal vibrations, structural defects (Au implantation), surface chemistry (1 ppm NO₂), and solute concentration. We show that the electrical resistivity is affected predominantly not by the thermal vibrations, structural defects, or solid solution, but the surface chemistry, which is the source of the improved chemical sensing. The response and recovery time of chemical sensing is respectively interpreted from the transport behaviors of major and minor semiconductor carriers. This acceptor-compensated charge transport mechanism provides novel insights not only for sensor development but also for research in charge and chemical dynamics of nano-semiconductors.