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Electrospinning for High Performance Sensors pp 115–128Cite as

Photoconductive Electrospun Titania Nanofibres to Develop Gas Sensors Operating at Room Temperature

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Part of the book series: NanoScience and Technology ((NANO))

Abstract

The use of nanostructured materials, such as those based on metal or metal oxides, has opened a new way to enhance the performances of chemical sensors making them able to detect gases at ppb level. In this type of sensors, the conductance is modulated by the presence of analytes that interact through physical-chemical processes of absorption and desorption, inducing changes in mobility or carriers density. The nano-scale dimensions of these materials enhance the interaction phenomena in terms of time and responses. In order to activate the physical/chemical interaction processes of the sensors based on oxide materials, an high operating temperature (200–400 °C) is required, resulting in significant power consumption. In this chapter, we report our recent studies on the possibility to exploit the titania photoconduction to develop gas sensor devices working at room temperature. We present the characterization of two different photoconductive Electrospun sensing layers: the first one is composed of titania nanofibres (TiO2 NFs) and the second of TiO2 NFs decorated with Pt nanoparticles (PtNPs) ranging from 5 to 10 nm.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge our colleagues of the Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research of the National Research Council for the voluntary and friendly cooperation in organizing the EHPS Workshop in Rome 2014. We want to thank, too, the Director Nicola Pirrone for having believed in that event, thus significantly contributing to its success. Finally, we are grateful to Ilaria Fratoddi, Iole Venditti and Maria Vittoria Russo of “La Sapienza” University of Rome, Department of Chemistry, for the Platinum nanoparticles preparation and characterizations.

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  1. Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research of the National Research Council of Italy, Via Salaria km 29,300, Monterotondo, (RM), Italy

    Emiliano Zampetti, Antonella Macagnano & A. Bearzotti

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  1. Emiliano Zampetti
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  2. Antonella Macagnano
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  3. A. Bearzotti
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Correspondence to Emiliano Zampetti .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. of Atmospheric Pollution Research (IIA), CNR, Monterotondo-Rome, Italy

    Antonella Macagnano

  2. Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research (IIA), CNR, Monterotondo-Rome, Italy

    Emiliano Zampetti

  3. Centre of Electrochemical Surface Technology (CEST), Wiener Neustadt, Austria

    Erich Kny

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Zampetti, E., Macagnano, A., Bearzotti, A. (2015). Photoconductive Electrospun Titania Nanofibres to Develop Gas Sensors Operating at Room Temperature. In: Macagnano, A., Zampetti, E., Kny, E. (eds) Electrospinning for High Performance Sensors. NanoScience and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14406-1_5

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