A novel ethanol gas sensor based on ZnO-microwire

One-dimensional (1D) ZnO microwires were successfully synthesized by chemical vapor deposition and their structural and morphological properties were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, demonstrating that the microwires were single crystalline with perfect hexagonal structure and smooth surface. Using these 1D microstructures, we fabricated a novel ZnO-based ethanol gas sensor. Operating at room temperature, the sensor was found to have good sensing characteristics. The reliability and stability of the sensor could be improved by connecting multiple 1-wire devices (1-WD) in parallel into a multi-wires device. In interior natural lighting environment and under 3 V bias, the response and recovery time of the 1-WD to 200 ppm ethanol gas were <10 s and about 300 s, respectively, and the minimum and maximum detection limit were about 2 and 200 ppm, respectively. A sensing model was proposed for discussing the performance of the sensor. The simplicity in fabrication, low power consumption and low cost make the sensor suitable for practical application in many fields, especially in identifying driving under the influence and chemical industry monitoring.