Micro-electronic gas sensor devices were developed for the detection of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), ammonia (NH3), and formaldehyde (HCHO), as well as binary mixed-gas systems. Four gas sensing materials for different target gases, Pd-SnO2 for CO, In2O3 for NOx, Ru-WO3 for NH3, and SnO2-ZnO for HCHO, were synthesized using a sol-gel method, and sensor devices were then fabricated using a micro sensor platform. The gas sensing behavior and sensor response to the gas mixture were examined for six mixed gas systems using the experimental data in MEMS gas sensor arrays in sole gases and their mixtures. The gas sensing behavior with the mixed gas system suggests that specific adsorption and selective activation of the adsorption sites might occur in gas mixtures, and allow selectivity for the adsorption of a particular gas. The careful pattern recognition of sensing data obtained by the sensor array made it possible to distinguish a gas species from a gas mixture and to measure its concentration.

Urchin-structured zinc oxide(ZnO) nanorod(NR) gas sensors were successfully demonstrated on a polyimide(PI) substrate, using single wall carbon nanotubes(SWCNTs) as the electrode. The ZnO NRs were grown with ZnO shells arranged at regular intervals to form a network structure with maximized surface area. The high surface area and numerous junctions of the NR network structure was the key to excellent gas sensing performance. Moreover, the SWCNTs formed a junction barrier with the ZnO which further improved sensor characteristics. The fabricated urchin-structured ZnO NR gas sensors exhibited superior performance upon NO2 exposure with a stable response of 110, fast rise and decay times of 38 and 24 sec, respectively. Comparative analyses revealed that the high performance of the sensors was due to a combination of high surface area, numerous active junction points, and the use of the SWCNTs electrode. Furthermore, the urchin-structured ZnO NR gas sensors showed sustainable mechanical stability. Although degradation of the devices progressed during repeated flexibility tests, the sensors were still operational even after 10000 cycles of a bending test with a radius of curvature of 5 mm.

We present an excellent detection for nitrogen monoxide (NO) gas using polycrystalline ZnO wire-like films synthesized via a simple method combined with sputtering of Zn metallic films and subsequent thermal oxidation of the sputtered Zn nanowire films in dry air. Structural and morphological characterization revealed that it would be possible to synthesize polycrystalline hexagonal wurtzite ZnO films of a wire-like nanostructure with widths of 100-150 nm and lengths of several microns by controlling the sputtering conditions. It was found from the gas sensing measurements that the ZnO wirelike thin film gas sensor showed a significantly high response, with a maximum value of 29.2 for 2 ppm NO at 200 oC, as well as a reversible fast response to NO with a very low detection limit of 50 ppb. In addition, the ZnO wire-like thin film gas sensor also displayed an NO-selective sensing response for NO, O2, H2, NH3, and CO gases. Our results illustrate that polycrystalline ZnO wire-like thin films are potential sensing materials for the fabrication of NO-sensitive high-performance gas sensors.

We report the nitrogen monoxide (NO) gas sensing properties of p-type CuO-nanorod-based gas sensors. We synthesized the p-type CuO nanorods with breadth of about 30 nm and length of about 330 nm by a hydrothermal method using an as-deposited CuO seed layer prepared on a Si/SiO2 substrate by the sputtering method. We fabricated polycrystalline CuO nanorod arrays at 80˚C under the hydrothermal condition of 1:1 morality ratio between copper nitrate trihydrate [Cu(NO2)2·3H2O] and hexamethylenetetramine (C6H12N4). Structural characterizations revealed that we prepared the pure CuO nanorod array of a monoclinic crystalline structure without any obvious formation of secondary phase. It was found from the gas sensing measurements that the p-type CuO nanorod gas sensors exhibited a maximum sensitivity to NO gas in dry air at an operating temperature as low as 200˚C. We also found that these CuO nanorod gas sensors showed reversible and reliable electrical response to NO gas at a range of operating temperatures. These results would indicate some potential applications of the p-type semiconductor CuO nanorods as promising sensing materials for gas sensors, including various types of p-n junction gas sensors.

We report on the NO gas sensing properties of non-directional ZnO nanofibers synthesized using a typical electrospinning technique. These non-directional ZnO nanofibers were electrospun on an SiO2/Si substrate from a solution containing poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) and zinc nitrate hexahydrate dissolved in distilled water. Calcination processing of the ZnO/PVA composite nanofibers resulted in a random network of polycrystalline ZnO nanofibers of 50 nm to 100 nm in diameter. The diameter of the nanofibers was found to depend primarily on the solution viscosity; a proper viscosity was maintained by adding PVA to fabricate uniform ZnO nanofibers. Microstructural measurements using scanning electron microscopy revealed that our synthesized ZnO nanofibers after calcination had coarser surface morphology than those before calcination, indicating that the calcination processing was sufficient to remove organic contents. From the gas sensing response measurements for various NO gas concentrations in dry air at several working temperatures, it was found that gas sensors based on electrospun ZnO nanofibers showed quite good responses, exhibiting a maximum sensitivity to NO gas in dry air at an operating temperature of 200˚C. In particular, the non-directional electrospun ZnO nanofiber gas sensors were found to have a good NO gas detection limit of sub-ppm levels in dry air. These results illustrate that non-directional electrospun ZnO nanofibers are promising for use in low-cost, high-performance practical NO gas sensors.