Materials Chemistry and Physics 127 (2011) 143150

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Materials Chemistry and Physics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matchemphys

Synthesis of metal and metal oxide nanostructures and their application

for gas sensing
N.M. Shaalan a,b , T. Yamazaki a, , T. Kikuta a
a
Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, 3190 Gofuku, Toyama 930-8555, Japan
b
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, 71516 Assiut, Egypt

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A method has been developed to synthesize metal and metal oxide nanostructures in high yields on the
Received 11 August 2010 surface of SiO2 /Si substrate. In this method, starting materials in a covered alumina crucible are thermally
Received in revised form evaporated under a high vacuum or a low pressure of ambient air. Spherical gold nanoparticles with a
13 December 2010
size of 15 nm and nanowires with a diameter of 70 nm were synthesized. SnO2 rough microwires, smooth
Accepted 19 January 2011
nanowires, and nanoknives were synthesized by using Sn granules, SnO powder, and SnO2 powder as
source materials, respectively. The microwires showed a quadrangular cross section and a length of
Keywords:
several microns, while the nanowires showed a circular cross section and approximately the same length.
Metal oxide nanostructure
Nano-additives
The effects of source temperature and deposition time on nanostructure growth were studied. X-ray
Thermal evaporation method diffraction patterns suggested that the as-synthesized products consisted of crystalline nanostructure.
Gas sensing Nanocomposite gas sensors on the base of noble metal and metal oxide were fabricated. These SnO2
nanowire gas sensors showed a reversible response to dilute NO2 gas at operating temperatures ranging
between room temperature and 300 C even at high concentrations. The results demonstrated that gold
doping improved the sensor response.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Miniaturization to the nanoscale has led to new functions in
electronic devices such as sensors, solar cells, batteries and fuel
cells. Recently, one-dimensional (1D) semiconductor nanostruc-
tures have become the focus of intensive research because of their
unique application in the fabrication of electronic, optoelectronic,
and sensor devices at the nanometer scale. They possess novel
properties intrinsically associated with low dimensionality and
size connement, making the bottom-up construction of nan-
odevices possible [13]. Integration of nanostructures into devices
is important and requires new creative methods for nanomaterial
fabrication, stabilization and processing. So far, many kinds of
1D semiconductor nanomaterials, including single element [46]
and compound semiconductors [79], have been successfully syn-
thesized through wide variety of methods, and detailed research
information on these 1D nanostructures can be readily found in
pertinent literatures [1013]. Among these nanostructures, SnO2
is an n-type semiconductor, which has been extensively studied
for various applications, including gas sensors [14,15], catalyst
support [16], transparent conducting electrodes [17] and lithium
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: nshaalan@aun.edu.eg (N.M. Shaalan),
yamazaki@eng.u-toyama.ac.jp (T. Yamazaki).
ion battery anode materials [18,19]. Studies have proven that
the properties and performance of SnO2 -based devices can be
dramatically inuenced by structure features. Therefore, much
attention has been paid to the synthesis of SnO2 nanostructure
like nanowires, nanotubes, nanoribbons, nanobelts, nanorods, etc.
Surface modication is one of the most effective methods used
to improve the gas-sensing properties of metal oxides. It has been
established that clusters of either noble metals or transition metal
oxides can be used to create such gas sensors [2022]. The use of
noble metal modiers such as Pd, Pt and Au have resulted in a suf-
cient growth in sensitivity and decrease in operating temperatures
[20,23]. A recent study has shown that nanocomposites on the base
of noble metals could also be essential for optimization of metal
oxide properties [24]. At present, nanocomposites on the base of
noble metals and metal oxides are being considered as prospective
materials for applications in catalysis, electronics, fuel cells, and gas
sensors [25,26].
In the present study, we introduce a synthesis of metal and metal
oxide nanostructures under atmospheric gases (lab environment).
Gold and tin dioxide nanostructures, including nanoparticles (NPs),
nanowires (NWs), rough micowires (MWs) and nanoknives (NKns)
were synthesized. The experiment was carried out under high vac-
uum (8 105 Pa) to fabricate metal nanostructures and under
low pressures of ambient air (60133 Pa) to fabricate metal oxide
nanostructures. The effects of source temperature and deposition
time on shape of nanostructure were studied. The inuence of

0254-0584/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matchemphys.2011.01.048
144 N.M. Shaalan et al. / Materials Chemistry and Physics 127 (2011) 143150

Fig. 1. Heating unit made of two crucibles and a heating element.

various source materials on SnO2 nanostructures was also investi-

gated. Since the SnO2 nanowire sensors are superior for gas sensors,
and the surface modication is one of the most effective methods
used to improve the gas-sensing properties of metal oxides, we
examined the inuence of nanocomposites using a noble metal,
like Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) and Au nanowires-nanoparticles
(AuNWsNPs), and metal oxide (SnO2 nanowires) on gas sensing
properties.

2. Experimental details

2.1. Synthesis of Au nanostructures

Fig. 2. SEM data of Au nanostructures: (a) 1140, (b) 1190, (c) 1240 and (d) 1340 C.
The experiments were carried out in a conventional vacuum evaporation
(e) XRD patterns of the as-synthesized Au nanostructures.
system made of stainless steel work-chamber of about 210 mm in diameter
and 300 mm in height. The deposition was performed in a vertically set heat-
ing furnace that consisted of crucibles and a heating element, as schematically
outlined in Fig. 1. For synthesis of metal nanostructures, pieces of gold metal
(with purity higher than 99.99%) were placed in the crucible, and then the layer-like powder of gold deposited with temperature-dependent thickness. The
crucible was covered by SiO2 /Si(1 0 0) substrate. Firstly, the chamber was evacu- experiment was repeated for source temperatures of 1190, 1240, and 1340 C, see
ated to high vacuum (8 105 Pa) and then kept at this pressure for the entire Table 1.
experiment, i.e., from the beginning of crucible heating to the cooling of the
sample. The crucible was heated from room temperature (RT) to 1140 C in 2.2. Synthesis of SnO2 nanostructures
about 2.5 min. The substrate was maintained at 300 C when the crucible was
maintained at 1140 C for the reaction time and changed according the source Starting material of Sn, SnO or SnO2 was placed in the crucible covered by SiO2 /Si
temperature, see Table 1. After heating for 30 min, the crucible was cooled nat- substrate, and then the chamber was evacuated using a rotary vacuum pump. Then,
urally to room temperature, resulting in a substrate surface coated with a thick the crucible was heated from RT to about 800 C in 2 or 3 min and maintained at this

Table 1
Experimental conditions, morphology and size of Au and SnO2 nanostructures.

Source Nanomaterials P (Pa) W (mg) T1 ( C) Ts ( C) t (min) Morphology Size/diameter (nm)

1140 300 NPs 15

1190 330 NPs 90
Au Au 8 105 30
1240 370 NPs/NWs 70/70
1340 417 NPs/NWs 100/70-100
15 30 1000
Sn 133 400 60 MWs 1200
SnO2 800 90 2000
SnO 86 402 NWs 50
90
SnO2 60 395 NKns
 N.M. Shaalan et al. / Materials Chemistry and Physics 127 (2011) 143150
Fig. 3. SEM data of SnO2 rough microwires: (a) 30, (b) 60 and (c) 90 min. (d) EDS data recorded from sample (a) indicates the existence of Sn and O.
temperature during the reaction for 90 min under a total pressure of 60133 Pa of
ambient air. The substrate was maintained at temperature depended on the source
temperature for the reaction time. After the crucible was cooled to room tempera-
ture, a thick layer of white products was obtained on the substrate. For Sn granules,
the evaporation was carried out systematically for 30, 60, and 90 min at 133 Pa. For
SnO and SnO2 powders, the evaporation was carried out for 90 min at 86 and 60 Pa,
respectively, see Table 1.
2.3. Gas sensor fabrication
A pair of interdigitated Pt electrodes (15 ngers) with a thickness of 100 nm
and a gap length of 120 m was fabricated on an SiO2 /Si substrate. A few
drops of ethanol suspended with SnO2 nanowires were deposited on the elec-
trode. The weight of SnO2 nanowires dispersed on the substrate was 540 g
and the area of the sensing element was 7 10 mm2 . For doped sensors, AuNPs
or AuNWsNPs (40 g) were mixed with SnO2 nanowires (500 g) in 300 L of
ethanol. Undoped (S1), 8 wt.% AuNPs (S2) and 8 wt.% AuNWsNPsdoped (S3)
SnO2 nanowire gas sensors were fabricated. In order to investigate NO2 gas sens-
ing properties, the sensors were placed in a quartz tube, which was inserted
in an electric furnace. The operating temperature was varied from RT up to
300 C. The heating rate was 2 C min1 during the change from an operating
temperature to the next one. Dry synthetic air, mixed with different concen-
trations of NO2 gas, was passed at a rate of 200 ml min1 through the quartz
tube. The sensor sensitivity (S) was estimated as the ratio of electrical resis-
tance, Rg /Ra , where Ra was the electrical resistance before the introduction of
NO2 gas, and Rg was the maximum electrical resistance after the introduction
of NO2 gas. The morphology, crystal structure, and components of undoped and
gold-doped SnO2 nanowires were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) (Shi-
madzu XRD-6100) with the Cu K radiation and eld emission scanning electron
microscopy (FESEM) (JEOL JSM-6700F) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
(EDS).
145
3. Results and discussion
Gold nanostructures obtained at various source temperatures
were observed using FESEM. The high-magnication SEM images
shown in Fig. 2 revealed that the products were signicantly
affected by the source temperature. At 1140 C, spherical nanopar-
ticles with sizes averaging about 15 nm were formed (Fig. 1a).
The size of Au particles increased up to 90 nm when the source
temperature was increased to 1190 C (Fig. 2b). Gold formed
hetero-nanostructure at higher temperature. Fig. 2c shows a few
Au nanowires about 1 m long and 70 nm in diameter formed at
1240 C. These nanowires, mixed with nanoparticles, were found
to grow parallel to the substrate surface. These randomly oriented
nanowires dominated at 1340 C and showed a uniform length
of about 10 m and diameters between 50 and 70 nm; note that
nanoparticles with a diameter of about 100 nm cover the surface of
nanowires (Fig. 2d). Table 1 summarizes the conditions of forma-
tion, morphology, and average size of the Au nanostructures, where
T1 , Ts , P, w, and t are the source temperature, substrate tempera-
ture, deposition pressure, starting material weight and deposition
time, respectively.
The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns for the as-synthesized Au
nanostructures are shown in Fig. 2e. Three peaks with different
intensities were observed in every Au nanostructure. These peaks
show that a face centered cubic of Au with a = 4.081 A, closed
to the standard value of a = 4.078 A indicated in JCPDS card no.
04-0784, is formed. It was observed from the calculation that
146 N.M. Shaalan et al. / Materials Chemistry and Physics 127 (2011) 143150
Fig. 4. SEM data of SnO2 nanostructures synthesized by using different source mate-
rials: (a) SnO powder and (b) SnO2 powder. (c) EDS data recorded of (a) indicates the
existence of Sn and O. (d) XRD patterns of the as-synthesized SnO2 nanostructures.
the FWHM of (2 0 0) peak decreased with increasing tempera-
ture up to 1190 C as shown in an inset gure, indicating that
the size of Au nanoparticles increased with increasing tempera-
ture.
We have investigated the effect of deposition time on the growth
of SnO2 nanostructure formed at a xed temperature and pressure
using tin as a source material. Fig. 3 shows SnO2 microwires with
diameters of 1.0, 1.2 and 2.0 m for deposition times of 30, 60 and
90 min, respectively. Their surfaces were rough and their cross sec-
tions were rectangle-like with different sizes. The length of wires
is not uniform, distributing between 15 and 25 m. The usage of
different source materials caused a growth of different shapes of
nanomaterials. Various shapes of tin dioxide nanostructures were
thus synthesized by using SnO or SnO2 powder as a source mate-
rial. For SnO as a source material, the low-magnication SEM image
shown in Fig. 4a reveals that the product consists of numerous
wire-like nanostructures with a length of several microns. Some of
the wires are straight and the others are curved. These nanowires
were grown at 86 Pa and 800 C and were about 50 nm in diam-
eter. Fig. 4b shows nanoknife-like structures of SnO2 rutile phase
obtained at 60 Pa and 800 C by using SnO2 powder as a source
material. The nanoknives have several microns in length, random
growth directions on the surface of substrate, and a small quan-
tity of product. Figs. 3d and 4c show the chemical composition
of the as-synthesized SnO2 nanostructures characterized by EDS.
It is found that the nanostructures are mainly composed of Sn
and O, and the small peak marked by Si is due to the Silicon
substrate.
XRD patterns observed for SnO2 products (Fig. 4d) suggested
that the as-synthesized products consisted of SnO2 in the rutile
phase with lattice constants of a = 4.736 A and c = 3.185 A, which
are approximately equal to the standard values of a = 4.738 A and
c = 3.187 A (JCPDS card no. 41-1445). The appearance of most peaks
of SnO2 in the rutile phase conrms the random growth direc-
tions of nanomaterials on the substrate, as shown in the SEM
image. Because of the non-epitaxial relation between SnO2 nanos-
tructures and SiO2 lm of silicon substrate, SiO2 lm with its
amorphous structure is expected to lead to more non-homogenous
nanostructures.
The growth mechanism of our method is not well under-
stood. However, we attempt to propose a general visualization
for the growth mechanism of nanomaterials synthesized by this
method, as shown in Fig. 5. It is recognized that the vapor
pressure and the substrate temperature greatly inuence the
growth of the nanostructure formed by thermal evaporation [27].
Thus, we consider the growth of nanomaterial in the present
method as follows. The atoms or molecules arriving at a sub-
strate rst adsorb on the surface of the substrate. Then, the
adsorbed species react with each other and also with the substrate
surface, forming bonds. The initial aggregation of the adsorbed
species will be the nuclei of a nanostructure. At a low tem-
perature, since the energy for growing 1D nanostructure is not
sufcient, small nanoparticles were grown from limited nucleation
sites, as shown from early SEM data observed after deposition
time of 5 min (Fig. 5b). At a high temperature, some particles
are condensed to form liquid droplets on the SiO2 surface and
become nuclei for 1D nanostructures, as shown in Fig. 5c. Each
nucleus forms one single nanowire, and the nanowires grow on
the substrate randomly due to the non-epitaxial relation with
SiO2 lm. In the case of SnO2 used as a source material, since
the vapor pressure may be low, the vapor pressure gradually
decreases during evaporation. This results in a gradual decrease
in the deposition rate, which seems to lead to the formation of
nanoknives.
It is shown that the sensitivity as well as the speed of response
to NO2 largely depends on the nano-additives and the operating
temperatures. Such characteristics are illustrated in Fig. 6a. It can
be seen that the response of these sensors to 2 ppm NO2 varies not
only with the operating temperature but also with the concentra-
tion of the nano-additives of Au. As the operating temperatures
increased from room temperature, the response increased sharply
up to 100 C and then decreased rapidly. Thus, all the curves present
a maximum at 100 C. The monitored gas concentration, response
and the operating temperature of doped and undoped SnO2 sen-
sors for NO2 gas are currently available in pertinent literatures
[2839], as shown in Table 2. In the present data, the doped sen-
sors exhibit much higher response than the undoped one. The
AuNWsNPsdoped SnO2 sensor shows its higher responses than
the others at operating temperatures of RT, 50, 250 and 300 C,
while the AuNPsdoped SnO2 sensor exhibits its higher responses
than the others at operating temperatures of 100200 C. It is clear
that the doping with AuNWsNPs has the same effect as the doping
with AuNPs on the gas sensing properties of SnO2 nanowires, i.e.,
the addition of AuNWs to a sensor doped with AuNPs does not gen-
erate any additional effect, expect the increase in sensitivity at the
lower temperatures (RT, 50 C). However, it is an attempt to seek a
new type of doping (AuNWsNPs). Generally, the result leads us to
believe that the AuNPs or AuNWsNPsdoped SnO2 nanowire sen-
 N.M. Shaalan et al. / Materials Chemistry and Physics 127 (2011) 143150 147

Fig. 5. (a) Illustration of the nanostructure growth mechanism. Early SEM image of gold: (b) for a low energy and (c) for a higher energy (shows condensed nanoparticles).

sors are superior to undoped one in monitoring a low concentration
of NO2 gas, and the usage of Au-additives enhanced the sensors
response to NO2 gas as was studied in Refs. [40,41] for WO3 sen-
sors. In order to investigate the dispersion of gold nanoparticles
through the aggregation of SnO2 nanowires, EDS analysis was per-
formed. The results revealed that gold could disperse through the
whole of the aggregation of SnO2 nanowires.
To explain the improvement of the nanowires sensing perfor-
mance upon Au-doped nanostructure, two possible sensitization
mechanisms chemical and electronic were proposed [20]. The
chemical sensitization is mediated by a spillover effect, and was
experimentally determined for hydrogen and oxygen [4245], as
schematically illustrated for molecular oxygen (as an oxidized
gas) in Fig. 7. Au nanostructures are active catalysts with spe-
cic catalytic properties. An objective gas is rst adsorbed on
the surface of the metal additives to be activated or dissociated,
followed by migration (spillover) to the semiconductor surface.
The activated species thus followed to the semiconductor sur-
face react with the adsorbed or surface oxygen, resulting in a
decrease in the surface conductivity of the n-type semiconduc-
tor, in case of oxidized gases. Thus in the area close to contact,
Au acts as a catalyst able to increase activity of SnO2 gas sens-

Table 2
Gas sensing properties of doped and undoped semiconductor SnO2 sensor for NO2 gas.

Sensing material Operating Operating Gas Higher Ref.

temperature temp. at higher concentration response
range ( C) response ( C) (ppm) (Rg /Ra )

SnO2 5 wt.%WO3 100250 150 500 33,359 [28]

SnO2 120220 160 5100 11502229 [29]
SnO2 220480 280 300 6.2 [30]
SnO2 2 wt.%Cd 200400 250 21000 10300 [31]
SnO2 5 wt.%Al 300400 300 520 1.85.0 [32]
SnO2 In2 O3 (1:9) 200500 300 5100 380 [33]
SnO2 300400 350 10500 730 [34]
SnO2 nanobelts RT-400 100 0.3 5 [35]
ZnOSnO2 NWs 200 200 10 66.3 [36]
SnO2 NPsMWCNTs 180300 300 1.2 5.35 [37]
SnO2 NC 25300 20 0.1 >1000 [38]
SnO2 NRs 220340 340 500 6 [39]
SnO2 8 wt.%AuNPs 100 2 88
150 210 25298 Present
SnO2 8 wt.%AuNWsNPs RT-300 100 2 78 result
150 210 2094
148 N.M. Shaalan et al. / Materials Chemistry and Physics 127 (2011) 143150

100
a S1
S2
S3
80
2ppm NO2
Response, Rg/Ra

60

40

20

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Operating Temp. (C)
-5 Fig. 7. Scheme of the process taking place at a SnO2 nanowire surface: (1) ionosorp-
10
b tion of oxygen at defect sites on the pristine SnO2 surface, (2) molecular oxygen
dissociation on Au particles followed by spillover of the atomic species onto the
-6
10 oxide surface, (3) collection zone: making the surface of SnO2 nanowire an effective
oxygen delivery system for Au-NP or Au-NW.
-7
10

10
-8 (<200 C), the predominant oxygen species on the sensor surface is
G (S)

S1 before O2 . When an NO2 gas is adsorbed on the oxide as NO2 molecules at

-9 S1 after a low temperature, a part of the adsorbed molecules take electrons
10
S2 before from the oxide to be NO2 , leading to a decrease in conductance
-10 S2 after [47]:
10 S3 before
S3 after NO2 (g) + e NO2 (s) (1)
-11
10 gas injection (s)
- Because the formation of NO2 is thermally activated, the
-
O- - sensitivity increases with increasing temperature up to100 C
10
-12
O2 O2 O (Fig. 6a). Another part of NO2 molecules react with O (if it is
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 formed), forming unidentate NO3 (s), as observed by Raman spec-
Opterating Temp. (C) troscopy and FTIR [48,49]:

Fig. 6. (a) Response toward NO2 gas at different operating temperatures for S1:
undoped, S2: 8 wt.% AuNPs and S3: 8 wt.% AuNWsNPs doped SnO2 NWs samples.
(b) Temperature dependence of SnO2 conductance before and after gas introduction.
ing. The use of AuNWs on SnO2 surface might rather increase the
quantity of NO2 that can be activated on SnO2 surface, resulting
in a greater degree of electron withdrawal from the SnO2 at the
lower temperatures. This process is a signicant enhancement of
the probability of NO2 chemisorptions when SnO2 is covered with
a noble metal (such as Au), which is reected in the observed
increase in nanowire response to objective gas at the lower tem-
peratures.
It is known that the conductance (G) of semiconductor increases
with increasing temperature, whereas the transformation of
physisorbed oxygen molecules into oxygen ions , due to charge
exchange between adsorbed oxygen and the bulk of SnO2 [46,47],
causes a decrease in conductance with increasing temperature. The
conductance of SnO2 sensors before and after the injection of NO2
gas is shown in Fig. 6b. The conductance of SnO2 before the injec-
tion of gas increased with increasing temperature up to 200 C,
and then started to decrease at 250 C. This decrease in a conduc-
tance above 250 C is probably due to the transformation of oxygen
species on the surface of SnO2 , which causes an increase in the
height of potential barriers at the SnO2 grain boundaries.
Generally, the reaction of NO2 on SnO2 surface species depends
on the surface temperature [4750]. At low operating temperature
NO2 (g) + O NO3 (s) (2)
(s)
Upon exhaust of NO2 gas, NO2 on the oxide is desorbed
through the reverse reaction of (1). Upon exhaust of NO2 gas, is
dissociated to an NO2 gas molecule and O through the reverse
reaction of (2). As is well known, with the temperature farther
increasing, O2 is dissociated to two O ions, and the density of
O increases. Thus, NO2 molecules easily react with O ions, gen-
erating bidentate NO3 (s) [50]:
NO2 (g) + O NO3 (s) (3)
Accordingly, the formation of NO2 (s)
accompanied with the
electron transfer from the oxide to NO2 becomes difcult, leading
to a low sensitivity. Therefore, the difference between the samples
is less pronounced at the higher temperatures.
The response of the pure SnO2 sensor and that of the
Au-doped one to different concentrations of NO2 (210 ppm)
measured at 150 C are compared in Fig. 8a. The gas response
of the AuNPsdoped SnO2 sensor is higher than that of the
AuNWsNPsdoped SnO2 sensor and undoped one. The response
of the sensors increased with an increase of the NO2 gas concentra-
tion in the range of 210 ppm. Fig. 8b shows the response signals of
undoped and Au-doped SnO2 nanowire sensors measured at var-
ious concentrations of NO2 at 150 C. Upon exposing the sensor
to NO2 gas, the resistance of the sensor gives an increase depen-
dent on NO2 concentration, and by switching off the respective
gas, the resistance of the sensor decreases approximately to the ini-
 N.M. Shaalan et al. / Materials Chemistry and Physics 127 (2011) 143150 149

a tial value. From Fig. 8b, we see that the response of the Au-doped
S1 sensors is quicker than that of the undoped one. Fig. 9 shows the
300 S2 response of SnO2 NW sensor (S1) for lower concentrations of NO2
S3 gas (0.11.0 ppm) at 200 C. It appears that the sensor could respond
250 to signicantly lower concentrations of NO2 gas.
Response, Rg/Ra

200 4. Conclusions

In summary, a convenient method of thermal evaporation

150
for the synthesis of metal and metal-oxide nanostructures
is presented. Rough microwires, nanowires, nanoknives and
100 nanoparticles have been synthesized on SiO2 /Si substrates with
catalyst-free thermal evaporation method. Experimental results
50 suggested that the temperature of substrate, source material and
vapor concentration have a great inuence on morphology of
nanostructures. The as-synthesized Au and SnO2 nanostructures
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 have the f.c.c and rutile structures, respectively. The capability for
growth of nanomaterials by simple manner makes the present
NO2 concentration (ppm)
method attractive for a creation of new nanostructures for various
nanoscale device applications. SnO2 nanocomposite sensors based
b on noble metal and metal oxide were fabricated. These SnO2 nan-
9
10 10ppm composite gas sensors showed a reversible response to NO2 gas
7ppm
5ppm at an operating temperature ranging from room temperature to
300 C. The sensor response increased with Au doping, and the high-
3ppm est response upon exposure to 2 ppm NO2 gas obtained in this study
8
10 was 88 at 100 C, which was measured for the 8 wt.% AuNPsdoped
2ppm
SnO2 nanowire gas sensor. The sensors would respond to signi-
R ( )

cantly lower concentrations of NO2 gas.

7
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