Humidity-Tolerant Ultrathin NiO Gas-Sensing FilmsClick to copy article linkArticle link copied!
- Rachel L. WilsonRachel L. WilsonChristopher Ingold Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, United KingdomMore by Rachel L. Wilson
- Cristian Eugen SimionCristian Eugen SimionNational Institute of Materials Physics, Atomistilor 405A, 077125 Magurele, RomaniaMore by Cristian Eugen Simion
- Adelina StanoiuAdelina StanoiuNational Institute of Materials Physics, Atomistilor 405A, 077125 Magurele, RomaniaMore by Adelina Stanoiu
- Alaric TaylorAlaric TaylorDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, United KingdomMore by Alaric Taylor
- Stefan GuldinStefan GuldinDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, United KingdomMore by Stefan Guldin
- James A. CovingtonJames A. CovingtonSchool of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United KingdomMore by James A. Covington
- Claire J. CarmaltClaire J. CarmaltChristopher Ingold Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, United KingdomMore by Claire J. Carmalt
- Chris S. Blackman*Chris S. Blackman*email: [email protected]Christopher Ingold Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University College London, 20 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0AJ, United KingdomMore by Chris S. Blackman
Abstract

When the gas sensor active layer film thickness is decreased, increased sensitivity to changes in the adsorbate concentration is expected when measuring the resistance of the layer, in particular when this thickness is on the order of the Debye length of the material (one–tens of nanometers); however, this is demonstrated only for a limited number of materials. Herein, ultrathin NiO films of different thicknesses (8–21 nm) have been deposited via chemical vapor deposition to fabricate gas sensor devices. Sensor performance for a range of NO2 concentrations (800 part-per-billion to 7 part-per-million) was evaluated and an optimum operating temperature of 125 °C determined. The dependence of the potential relative changes with respect to the NO2 concentration and of the sensor signal with respect to the geometrical parameters was qualitatively evaluated to derive a transduction model capable of fitting the experimental results. The selective sensitivity toward NO2 was confirmed by the limited response for different reducing gases, CO, CH4, NH3, and SO2, under optimum operating conditions, and the sensor signal toward NO2 increased with decreasing thickness, demonstrating that the concept of a Debye length dependence of sensitivity is applicable for the p-type semiconductor NiO. In addition, these NiO sensors were exposed to different relative levels of humidity over a wide range of operating temperatures and were found to display humidity tolerance far superior to those in previous reports on SnO2 materials.
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