Materials Engineering for Chemical Sensing Enhancement

Metal oxides nanowires and novel heterostructures are synthesized using different techniques and finally integrated into gas sensing platform. In particular, nanowires were synthesized using thermal oxidation and VLS mechanism. While, heterostructures i.e. NiO/ZnO (p-n) and NiO/NiWO4/WO3 (p-p-n) were synthesized using VLS and VS mechanisms. Detailed investigations reveal the dependence of sensors selectivity and sensitivity on nanowires synthesis techniques. While, the superior performance of heterostructures as compared to bare nanowires presents the novel pathway to further enhance the performance of nanostructured gas sensors.