ZnO nanorod/porous silicon nanowire hybrid structures as highly-sensitive NO2 gas sensors at room temperature

Abstract

ZnO nanorod/porous silicon nanowire (ZnO/PSiNW) hybrids with three different structures as highly sensitive NO₂ gas sensors were obtained. PSiNWs were first synthesized by metal-assisted chemical etching, and then seeded in three different ways. After that ZnO nanorods were grown on the seeded surface of PSiNWs using a hydrothermal procedure. ZnO/PSiNW hybrids showed excellent gas sensing performance for various NO₂ concentrations (5–50 ppm) at room temperature, and the electrical resistance change rate reached as high as 35.1% when responding to 50 ppm NO₂. The distinct enhancement was mainly attributed to the faster carrier transportation after combination, the increase in gas sensing areas and the oxygen vacancy (V_O) concentration. Moreover, the p-type gas sensing behavior was explained by the gas sensing mechanism and the effect of V_O concentration on gas sensing properties was also discussed concerning the photoluminescence (PL) spectra performance.