Nanoengineered chemiresistors: the interplay between electron transport and chemisorption properties of morphologically encoded SnO2 nanowires

The transport properties and gas-sensing performance of chemiresistors based on quasi-1D, single-crystal, SnO2 nanostructures with deliberately synthesized (encoded) segmented morphology are explored. Such nanostructures were obtained using programmable modulation of the gas supersaturation ratio during their growth. Using hydrogen and oxygen as model reducing and oxidizing gases, we show that the responsiveness of these structurally modulated nanowires to gases is improved over that of straight nanowires of the same average diameter. This is due to the presence of small-diameter segments, which dominate the nanostructure's transport properties and to the better tolerance of such nanostructures towards contact effects. The narrow segments approximate the excellent responsiveness of 'necks' between particles in traditional thin film gas sensors but with the significant advantage of greater morphological integrity and stability.

[1]  Clifton G. Fonstad,et al.  Defect structure and electronic donor levels in stannic oxide crystals , 1973 .

[2]  Giorgio Sberveglieri,et al.  Stable and highly sensitive gas sensors based on semiconducting oxide nanobelts , 2002 .

[3]  Craig A. Grimes,et al.  Unprecedented ultra-high hydrogen gas sensitivity in undoped titania nanotubes , 2006 .

[4]  F. Favier,et al.  Hydrogen Sensors and Switches from Electrodeposited Palladium Mesowire Arrays , 2001, Science.

[5]  G. Korotcenkov.  Gas response control through structural and chemical modification of metal oxide films: state of the art and approaches , 2005 .

[6]  C. J. Taylor,et al.  Featured Article: Use of Microhotplates in the Controlled Growth and Characterization of Metal Oxides for Chemical Sensing , 2002 .

[7]  Ian H. Stevenson,et al.  Principles and mechanisms of gas sensing by GaN nanowires functionalized with gold nanoparticles , 2006 .

[8]  Peidong Yang,et al.  Photochemical sensing of NO(2) with SnO(2) nanoribbon nanosensors at room temperature. , 2002, Angewandte Chemie.

[9]  Martin Moskovits,et al.  CHEMICAL SENSING AND CATALYSIS BY ONE-DIMENSIONAL METAL-OXIDE NANOSTRUCTURES , 2004 .

[10]  Theodor Doll,et al.  Field-effect-induced gas sensitivity changes in metal oxides , 1997 .

[11]  Younan Xia,et al.  A solution-phase, precursor route to polycrystalline SnO2 nanowires that can be used for gas sensing under ambient conditions. , 2003, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[12]  Ulrich Simon,et al.  Metal and metal oxide nanoparticles in chemiresistors: does the nanoscale matter? , 2006, Small.

[13]  Z. Fan,et al.  ZnO nanowire field-effect transistor and oxygen sensing property , 2004 .

[14]  A. Kolmakov,et al.  Encoding morphology in oxide nanostructures during their growth. , 2005, Nano letters.

[15]  David E. Williams,et al.  Tin dioxide gas sensors. Part 1.—Aspects of the surface chemistry revealed by electrical conductance variations , 1987 .

[16]  Dmitri O. Klenov,et al.  Enhanced gas sensing by individual SnO2 nanowires and nanobelts functionalized with Pd catalyst particles. , 2005, Nano letters.

[17]  Chongwu Zhou,et al.  Detection of NO2 down to ppb levels using individual and multiple In2O3 nanowire devices , 2004 .

[18]  R. P. Gupta,et al.  Oxide Materials for Development of Integrated Gas Sensors—A Comprehensive Review , 2004 .

[19]  Martin Moskovits,et al.  Detection of CO and O2 Using Tin Oxide Nanowire Sensors , 2003 .

[20]  Electronic transport imaging in a multiwire SnO2 chemical field-effect transistor device , 2005, cond-mat/0506621.

[21]  C. Lieber,et al.  Nanowire Nanosensors for Highly Sensitive and Selective Detection of Biological and Chemical Species , 2001, Science.

[22]  Daihua Zhang,et al.  In2O3 nanowires as chemical sensors , 2003 .

[23]  Vincenzo Guidi,et al.  Electrical Properties of Tin Dioxide Two-Dimensional Nanostructures , 2004 .

[24]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Ultrasensitive and highly selective gas sensors using three-dimensional tungsten oxide nanowire networks , 2006 .

[25]  Phaedon Avouris,et al.  Field-Effect Transistors Based on Single Semiconducting Oxide Nanobelts , 2003 .

[26]  Reginald M. Penner,et al.  Amine Vapor Sensing with Silver Mesowires , 2004 .

[27]  David P. Norton,et al.  Hydrogen and ozone gas sensing using multiple ZnO nanorods , 2005 .

[28]  N. Bârsan,et al.  Conduction Model of Metal Oxide Gas Sensors , 2001 .

[29]  N. Barsan,et al.  Fundamental and practical aspects in the design of nanoscaled SnO2 gas sensors: a status report , 1999 .

[30]  Computer simulation of the surface energy barrier of oxidic semiconductors with mobile donors , 1994 .

[31]  Craig A Grimes,et al.  Metal oxide nanoarchitectures for environmental sensing. , 2003, Journal of nanoscience and nanotechnology.