We fabricated highly sensitive and selective ammonia gas sensors based on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) platforms that were functionalized with electrospun polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) nanofibers and doped with various organic acids (i.e., oxalic, tartaric, and citric acids). The structural and chemical surface conditions of the nanofiber-based active layers on top of the QCMs were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The sensitivity of the PVAc nanofiber-based QCM sensor doped with citric acid was found to be the highest (2.95 Hz/ppm) among others with a limit of detection (LOD) of down to the subppm level (550 ppb). It also exhibited good selectivity, rapid response, short recovery time, and decent repeatability. This simple yet low-cost alternative solution based on chemical modification of nanofibers could improve the performance of QCM-based ammonia gas sensors in many areas including for smart electronic nose applications.

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Due to its high theoretical specific capacity, a silicon anode is one of the candidates for realizing high energy density lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, problems related to bulk silicon (e.g., low intrinsic conductivity and massive volume expansion) limit the performance of silicon anodes. In this work, to improve the performance of silicon anodes, a vertically aligned n-type silicon nanowire array (n-SiNW) was fabricated using a well-controlled, top-down nano-machining technique by combining photolithography and inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) at a cryogenic temperature. The array of nanowires ~1 µm in diameter and with the aspect ratio of ~10 was successfully prepared from commercial n-type silicon wafer. The half-cell LIB with free-standing n-SiNW electrode exhibited an initial Coulombic efficiency of 91.1%, which was higher than the battery with a blank n-silicon wafer electrode (i.e., 67.5%). Upon 100 cycles of stability testing at 0.06 mA cm−2, the battery with the n-SiNW electrode retained 85.9% of its 0.50 mAh cm−2 capacity after the pre-lithiation step, whereas its counterpart, the blank n-silicon wafer electrode, only maintained 61.4% of 0.21 mAh cm−2 capacity. Furthermore, 76.7% capacity retention can be obtained at a current density of 0.2 mA cm−2, showing the potential of n-SiNW anodes for high current density applications. This work presents an alternative method for facile, high precision, and high throughput patterning on a wafer-scale to obtain a high aspect ratio n-SiNW, and its application in LIBs.