Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T02:01:53.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Low Cost Environmental Sensors Using Zinc Oxide Nanowires and Nanostructures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2012

Nima Mohseni Kiasari ,
Saeid Soltanian ,
Bobak Gholamkhass  and
Peyman Servati
Nima Mohseni Kiasari
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia 2332 Main Mall, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Saeid Soltanian
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia 2332 Main Mall, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Bobak Gholamkhass
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia 2332 Main Mall, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Peyman Servati
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia 2332 Main Mall, Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
Get access

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires (NW) are grown on both silicon and sapphire substrates using conventional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system. As-grown nanostructures are characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) as well as energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and the results confirm high-quality c-axis growth of single-crystalline zinc oxide nanowires. Nanowire are dispersed in solvent and then placed between micro-patterned gold electrodes fabricated on silicon wafers using low cost and scalable dielectrophoresis (DEP) process for fabrication of oxygen and humidity sensors. These sensors are characterized in a vacuum chamber connected to a semiconductor analyzer. Current-voltage characteristics of each device are systematically investigated under different hydrostatic pressure of various gaseous environments such as nitrogen, argon, dry and humid air. It is observed that the electrical conductivity of the nanowires is significantly dependent on the number of oxygen and water molecules adsorbed to the surface of the metal oxide nanowire. These results are critical for development of low cost metal oxide sensors for high performance ubiquitous environmental sensors of oxygen and humidity.

Keywords

chemical vapor deposition (CVD) (deposition)II-VIsensor
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1439: Symposium N/AA – Nanowires and Nanotubes-Synthesis, Properties, Devices, and Energy Applications of One-Dimensional Materials , 2012 , pp. 139 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Mohseni Kiasari, N. and Servati, P., “Dielectrophoresis-Assembled ZnO Nanowire Oxygen Sensors,” Electron Device Letters, IEEE, pp. 1–3, 2011.Google Scholar
Fan, Z., Wang, D., Chang, P. C., Tseng, W. Y., and Lu, J. G., “ZnO nanowire field-effect transistor and oxygen sensing property,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 85, pp. 5923–5925, 2004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gholamkhass, B., Kiasari, N. M., and Servati, P., “An efficient inverted organic solar cell with improved ZnO and gold contact layers,” Organic Electronics, 2012.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiasari, N. M., Shen, J., Gholamkhass, B., Soltanian, S., and Servati, P., “Well-aligned zinc oxide nanowire arrays for transparent electrode applications,” in Photonics Conference (PHO), 2011 IEEE, 2011, pp. 561–562.Google Scholar
Wang, Z. L. and Song, J., “Piezoelectric nanogenerators based on zinc oxide nanowire arrays,” Science, vol. 312, pp. 242–246, 2006.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Comini, E., “Metal oxide nano-crystals for gas sensing,” Analytica Chimica Acta, vol. 568, pp. 28–40, 2006.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, Z. L., “Zinc oxide nanostructures: growth, properties and applications,” Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, vol. 16, p. R829, 2004.Google Scholar
Liu, B. and Zeng, H. C., “Hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO nanorods in the diameter regime of 50 nm,” Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 125, pp. 4430–4431, 2003.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kong, Y., Yu, D., Zhang, B., Fang, W., and Feng, S., “Ultraviolet-emitting ZnO nanowires synthesized by a physical vapor deposition approach,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 78, p. 407, 2001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartanto, A., Ning, X., Nakata, Y., and Okada, T., “Growth mechanism of ZnO nanorods from nanoparticles formed in a laser ablation plume,” Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing, vol. 78, pp. 299–301, 2004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gondrand, C., Laurent, J., Pauchet, J., Prat, M., Quintard, M., Rouillon, L., and Tafforeau, P., “Characterization of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) active layer and experimental study of the water behaviour in a micro fuel cell,” Fuel cells, vol. 2, p. 4.Google Scholar
Freer, E. M., Grachev, O., Duan, X., Martin, S., and Stumbo, D. P., “High-yield self-limiting single-nanowire assembly with dielectrophoresis,” Nature nanotechnology, vol. 5, pp. 525–530, 2010.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
TAKATA, M., TSUBONE, D., and YANAGIDA, H., “Dependence of electrical conductivity of ZnO on degree of sintering,” Journal of the American Ceramic Society, vol. 59, pp. 4–8, 1976.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Advani, G. N. and Nanis, L., “Effects of humidity on hydrogen sulfide detection by SnO2 solid state gas sensors,” Sensors and Actuators, vol. 2, pp. 201–206, 1982.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, S. P., Chang, S. J., Lu, C. Y., Li, M. J., Hsu, C. L., Chiou, Y. Z., Hsueh, T. J., and Chen, I., “A ZnO nanowire-based humidity sensor,” Superlattices and Microstructures, vol. 47, pp. 772–778, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Z. and Lu, C., “Humidity sensors: a review of materials and mechanisms,” Sensor Letters, vol. 3, pp. 274–295, 2005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, R. J., Sun, Y. L., Lin, C. C., Chen, H. W., and Chavali, M., “Composite of TiO2 nanowires and nafion as humidity sensor material,” Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, vol. 115, pp. 198–204, 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuang, Q., Lao, C., Wang, Z. L., Xie, Z., and Zheng, L., “High-sensitivity humidity sensor based on a single SnO2 nanowire,” Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol. 129, pp. 6070–6071, 2007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar