Search

Heterojunctions are an important strategy for designing high performance electrical sensor materials and related devices. Herein, a new type of metal-semiconductor hybrid nanoparticle has been successfully used to remarkably sensitize the surface of ZnO nanowires for detecting NO2 with high responses over a broad temperature window ranging from room temperature to 600 °C. These hybrid nanoparticles are comprised of iron oxide nanowires with well dispersed single crystalline Au nanoparticles. The hybrid nanoparticle decorated ZnO nanowires have achieved a giant response, as high as 74 500 toward NO2 gas, about 42 times that of Au decorated ZnO nanowire sensors. This dramatic enhancement may be attributed to the efficient charge transfer across the Au-Fe2O3 Schottky and Fe2O3-ZnO semiconductor heterojunction interfaces. Due to the incorporation of thermally-stable Fe2O3 nanoparticles as the support of Au nanoparticles, the working temperature of nanowire sensors was successfully extended to higher temperatures, with an increase of 200 °C, from 400 °C to 600 °C. Such a combination of semiconductor heterojunction and semiconductor-metal Schottky contact presents a new strategy for designing high performance electrical sensors with high sensitivity, stability, selectivity, and wide operation temperature window, which are potentially suitable for advanced energy systems such as automotive engines and power plants.

A new method to directly synthesize single-crystalline CeO2 nanoparticles has been developed. The advantages of the method are rapid synthesis, at normal atmosphere, 100% productive ratio and low cost, with a great potential for scale-up. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra showed unusual peak width versus particle size, compared with Scherrer equation predictions. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), electron diffraction and ultraviolet (UV) absorption were used to examine the particle size and microstructure to find out the cause. As a result, ultrafine particles with a size less than 6 nm were found to be self-assembled into a 'coherent interface', so that a large group of particles behave like a large single particle in XRD.

Large scale (La,Sr)CoO3 (LSCO)/ZnO nanofilm–nanorod diode arrays have been successfully fabricated using a combination of hydrothermal synthesis and colloidal deposition. With well-controlled dimensionality, crystallinity, crystal structures and device structures, LSCO/ZnO nanofilm–nanorod diode arrays display an excellent rectifying current–voltage (I–V) characteristic under ±1 V bias with negligible leakage current upon reverse bias. These nanostructured diode arrays have been found to be sensitive to UV illumination and different relative humidities at room temperature upon forward bias. A negative photoconductivity response is revealed upon UV illumination on the diode arrays as a result of the desorption process of nanofilm–nanorod surface moisture. The forward current of LSCO/ZnO nanofilm–nanorod diodes increases significantly with increasing relative humidity. These unique nanostructured diode arrays could be useful as photo-responsive moisture and humidity detectors.