Ultra-thin ALD CoOx-ZnO heterogenous films as highly sensitive and environmentally friendly H2S sensor

• Published in: Rare metals 2023-09, Vol.42 (9), p.3054-3063
• Main Authors: Hu, Qing-Min, Dong, Zhe, Zhang, Gai-Xia, Li, Yu-Xi, Xing, Shuang-Feng, Ma, Zhi-Heng, Dong, Bo-Yu, Lu, Bo, Sun, Shu-Hui, Xu, Jia-Qiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atomic layer epitaxy; Biomaterials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Cobalt oxides; Debye length; Density functional theory; Energy; Film thickness; Gas sensors; Heterojunctions; Hydrogen sulfide; Internet of Things; Materials Engineering; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; Microelectromechanical systems; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Original Article; Photovoltaic cells; Physical Chemistry; Sensors; Synergistic effect; Thin films; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 1001-0521; 1867-7185
• DOI: 10.1007/s12598-023-02310-3

To obtain environmentally friendly, integrated and miniaturized gas sensors for the increasing request for the Internet of Things industry and other relative areas, the ultra-thin CoO x /ZnO heterogeneous film with active interfacial sites was in-situ deposited on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) as H 2 S sensor. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) was employed to in-situ fabricate the uniform ZnO thin film. ALD CoO x was deposited on ZnO surface to obtain CoO x /ZnO heterojunction and active interfacial sites. The ultra-thin film (20 nm) with 50 ALD CoO x decorated on 250 ALD ZnO displays excellent sensing performance, including very high response (4.45@200 × 10 −9 ) and selectivity to H 2 S with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.38 × 10 −9 , long-term sensing stability, high response/recovery performance (7.5 s/15.7 s) and mechanical strength at 230 °C. Reasons for the high sensing performance of CoO x /ZnO have been confirmed by series of characterizations and density functional theory (DFT) calculation. Heterojunction film thickness with Debye length, the oxygen vacancies and the synergistic effect of active interfacial sites are main reasons for the high sensing performance. The strategy by fabrication of CoO x /ZnO heterogeneous film within Debye length and employing synergistic effect of active interfacial sites offers a promising route for the design of environmentally friendly gas sensors. Furthermore, the ALD technique offers a facile in-situ strategy and high-throughput fabrication of MEMS gas sensors. Graphical Abstract