Core–Shell Electrospun Polycrystalline ZnO Nanofibers for Ultra-Sensitive NO₂ Gas Sensing

Abstract

This paper discusses the growth of polycrystalline, self-supporting ZnO nanofibres which can detect nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas down to 1 part per billion (ppb), one of the smallest detection limits reported for NO2 using ZnO. A new and innovative method has been developed for growing polycrystalline ZnO nanofibres. These nanofibres have been created using core-shell electrospinning of inorganic metal precursor zinc neodecanoate, where growth occurs at the core of the nanofibres. This process produces contamination-free, selfsupporting, polycrystalline ZnO nanofibres of the average diameter and grain size 50 nm and 8 nm respectively, which are ideal for gas sensing applications. This process opens up an exciting opportunity for creating nanofibres from a variety of metal oxides, facilitating many new applications especially in the areas of sensors and wearable technologies.

1D Metal Oxide Semiconductor Materials for Chemiresistive Gas Sensors: A Review

“…Furthermore, chemiresistive sensors based on MOS materials require simple and low‐cost synthesis and fabrication methods, while providing several avenues for controlling sensing properties via nanoengineering of MOS chemical, compositional, and structural properties. [ 34 ] Until now, both p‐type (e.g., CuO [ 3,46,47 ] ) and n‐type MOS (e.g., WO 3 , [ 7,48–50 ] ZnO, [ 4,51–54 ] SnO 2 , [ 11,16,23 ] TiO 2 , [ 56,57 ] In 2 O 3 [ 12,54,55 ] ) have been widely used as gas sensing materials due to their high sensing performance.…”

Optimization of Transistor Characteristics and Charge Transport in Solution Processed ZnO Thin Films Grown from Zinc Neodecanoate

“…Moreover, its suitability as matrix material for doping with number of elements such as aluminium [7], indium [3,[8][9][10][11], gallium [3,9,10], tin [11][12][13], magnesium [14] allows for modulation of its properties. This has resulted in ZnO being utilized for a number of applications such as gas sensing [15][16][17][18], photovoltaics [14,19], UV photodetectors [20][21][22], non-volatile memories [23][24][25], and piezoelectric generators [18,19,26].…”

Synthesis of Hollow Nanofibers and Application on Detecting SF6 Decomposing Products

“…Coaxial electrospinning technology is more flexible to form hollow nanofiber. The experimental setup has been shown in Figure 1C (Aziz et al, 2018). The coaxial electrospinning technology follows the traditional electrospinning principal, just replaces the traditional single spinneret with a spinneret composed of two coaxial capillaries.…”