Based on the achievement of synthesis of ZnO nanowires in mass production, ZnO nanowires gas sensors were fabricated with microelectromechanical system technology and ethanol-sensing characteristics were investigated. The sensor exhibited high sensitivity and fast response to ethanol gas at a work temperature of 300 °C. Our results demonstrate the potential application of ZnO nanowires for fabricating highly sensitive gas sensors.

We report on field emission from SnO2 nanobelt arrays with the length of about 90 μm grown on silicon substrates. The turn-on field of the nanobelt arrays at the current density of 1μA∕cm2, is 4.5, 3.0, 2.4, and 2.3V∕μm as the distance between anode and cathode (d) is 0.1, 0.2, 0.35, and 0.5 mm, respectively. The current density rapidly reaches 2.1mA∕cm2 at the electrical field of 4.4V∕μm at d=0.35mm. The current density is higher than or comparable to those of the carbon nanotubes and other one-dimensional nanostructured materials. We also discuss the mechanism of high current densities and estimate the enhancement factor according to both the Fowler–Nordheim law and the reported model on micrometer-long of carbon nanotubes.