Improving the NH3 gas sensitivity of ZnO nanowire sensors by reducing the carrier concentration

We report a method to improve the sensitivity of a zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire gas sensor towards ammonia (NH3) without the use of catalyst nanoparticles on the nanowire surface. This improvement is achieved by lowering the nominal carrier concentration in the as-grown ZnO nanowires. The carrier concentration in the as-grown ZnO nanowires can be tuned by treating these nanowires to either an oxidizing gas plasma or a reducing gas plasma, as observed from the measured current-voltage (I-V) characteristics response. We demonstrate that a ZnO nanowire sensor device that has been subjected to oxygen plasma treatment, thereby having a reduced carrier concentration, exhibits a sensitivity towards 0.75% NH3 gas that is improved by approximately four times. The origin of this gas sensitivity improvement is discussed based on x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis results of the plasma-treated ZnO nanowires.