ZnO nanorods based ultra sensitive and selective explosive sensor

Author

Nathawat, Rashi ; Patel, Mitesh ; Ray, Priyadip ; Gilda, N.A. ; Vinchurkar, M.S. ; Rao, Valipe Ramgopal

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Indian Inst. of Technol.-Bombay, Mumbai, India

fYear

2013

fDate

2-4 Jan. 2013

Firstpage

40

Lastpage

42

Abstract

A small scale (20 μm), ultra sensitive (50 ppb) and highly selective sensor based on ZnO nanostructures using Micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) platform has been reported here for the detection of explosive and Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) vapors. Flower and rod like architectures of nanorods were used as a sensing layer. The nanorods prepared via chemical synthesis were uniform with diameters of 50-80 nm and lengths about 3-4 μm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveal that the nanostructures are well oriented with the c-axis, perpendicular to the substrate. A relatively higher selectivity for 2, 4, 6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) vapors compared to other VOCs at room temperature were observed. The intensity of deep level green emission peak associated with point defects decreases after exposure as revealed from Photoluminescence (PL) spectra.

Keywords

II-VI semiconductors; X-ray diffraction; deep levels; explosive detection; microsensors; nanorods; organic compounds; photoluminescence; point defects; scanning electron microscopy; zinc compounds; 2, 4, 6-trinitrotoluene vapors; MEMS platform; X-ray diffraction; ZnO; c-axis; chemical synthesis; deep level green emission peak; flower like architectures; micro-electro-mechanical system platform; nanorods; nanostructures; photoluminescence spectra; point defects; rod like architectures; scanning electron microscopy; selective explosive sensor; sensing layer; size 20 mum; size 3 mum to 4 mum; size 50 nm to 50 nm; ultra sensitive explosive sensor; volatile organic compound vapors; Chemicals; Explosives; Nanostructures; Scanning electron microscopy; Temperature sensors; Thermal stability; Zinc oxide; MEMS; Nanostructure; PL; Sensor; TNT; XRD;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nanoelectronics Conference (INEC), 2013 IEEE 5th International

Conference_Location

Singapore

ISSN

2159-3523

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-4840-9

Electronic_ISBN

2159-3523

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/INEC.2013.6465947

Filename

6465947