SnO2 nanowires for optical and optoelectronic gas sensing

Author

Todros, S. ; Baratto, C. ; Comini, E. ; Faglia, G. ; Ferroni, M. ; Sberveglieri, G.

Author_Institution

Sensor Lab., Univ. of Brescia, Brescia, Italy

fYear

2009

fDate

25-28 Oct. 2009

Firstpage

1264

Lastpage

1267

Abstract

Quasi-1D nanostructures of metal-oxide semiconductors have been extensively investigated for their novel physical properties and have found application in electronics, photonics and gas sensing. Among them, SnO₂ is a typical n-type semiconductor with a wide band gap of 3.6 eV, showing a broad visible photoluminescence (PL) emission. Moreover, SnO₂ nanowires irradiated with UV-visible radiation (near their band gap) show a great increase of conductance and photocurrent (PC) is generated, if a constant potential is applied. PL emission and PC generation are strongly dependent on surface states and can thus be tuned depending on the surrounding atmosphere. In this work, we compared the optical and optoelectronic properties of SnO₂ nanowires synthesized via evaporation-condensation (EC) process. Photoluminescence emission and photocurrent flowing through biased SnO₂ nanowires were studied in various gas atmospheres, targeting NO₂ and ethanol sensing applications.

Keywords

condensation; energy gap; evaporation; gas sensors; nanosensors; nanotechnology; nanowires; nitrogen compounds; organic compounds; photoconductivity; photoluminescence; semiconductor growth; semiconductor materials; tin compounds; ultraviolet radiation effects; NO₂; SnO₂; UV-visible radiation; conductance; evaporation-condensation process; gas sensing; metal-oxide semiconductors; n-type semiconductor; nanowires; optoelectronic properties; photocurrent; quasi-1D nanostructures; visible photoluminescence emission; Atmosphere; MOS devices; Nanowires; Optical sensors; Photoconductivity; Photoluminescence; Photonic band gap; Semiconductor nanostructures; Stimulated emission; Wideband;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Sensors, 2009 IEEE

Conference_Location

Christchurch

ISSN

1930-0395

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4548-6

Electronic_ISBN

1930-0395

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICSENS.2009.5398383

Filename

5398383