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Gas sensor based on photoconductive electrospun titania nanofibres operating at room temperature

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Abstract

An important drawback of semiconductor gas sensors is their operating temperature that needs the use of heaters. To overcome this problem a prototyping sensor using titania nanofibres (with an average diameter of 50 nm) as sensitive membrane were fabricated by electrospinning directly on the transducer of the sensor. Exploiting the effect of titania photoconductivity, resistance variations upon gas interaction under continuous irradiation of ultra violet light were measured at room temperature. The resistive sensor response was evaluated towards ammonia, nitrogen dioxide and humidity. The sensor exhibited a higher response to ammonia than to nitrogen dioxide, especially for concentrations larger than 100 ppb. For 200 ppb of ammonia and nitrogen dioxide, the responses were ~2.8 and 1.5 %, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per la Microelettronica e Microsistemi (CNR IMM), Via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133, Rome, Italy

    E. Zampetti, A. Macagnano & A. Bearzotti

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  1. E. Zampetti
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  2. A. Macagnano
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  3. A. Bearzotti
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Correspondence to E. Zampetti.

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Zampetti, E., Macagnano, A. & Bearzotti, A. Gas sensor based on photoconductive electrospun titania nanofibres operating at room temperature. J Nanopart Res 15, 1566 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-013-1566-9

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