In2O3 Nanowires as Chemical Sensors

TLDR: In this paper, an approach to use individual In2O3 nanowire transistors as chemical sensors working at room temperature was presented, which exhibited significantly improved chemical sensing performance compared to existing solid state sensors in many aspects, such as the sensitivity, the selectivity, the response time, and the lowest detectable concentrations.

Abstract: We present an approach to use individual In2O3 nanowire transistors as chemical sensors working at room temperature. Upon exposure to a small amount of NO2 or NH3, the nanowire transistors showed a decrease in conductance up to six or five orders of magnitude and also substantial shifts in the threshold gate voltage. These devices exhibited significantly improved chemical sensing performance compared to existing solid-state sensors in many aspects, such as the sensitivity, the selectivity, the response time, and the lowest detectable concentrations. Furthermore, the recovery time of our devices can be shortened to just 30 s by illuminating the devices with UV light in vacuum.