Fabrication and characterization of Ga-doped ZnO nanowire gas sensor for the detection of CO

We demonstrate an efficient CO sensor using Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) nanowires (NWs). Various GZO NWs are synthesized with Au catalysts on sapphire substrates by hot-walled pulse laser deposition. The deposition temperature of ZnO NWs was in the range of 800–900 °C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and photoluminescence (PL) characterizations indicate that the obtained NWs have the well-crystallized hexagonal structure with customized Ga-doping concentration of 0–5 wt.%. The NWs have the diameter of about 50 nm and the length of about 8 µm. After depositing the Ag electrodes on both sides of the NW cluster, the resistance change is checked with the exposure to CO gas in the self-designed gas chamber that can facilitate the detection of the resistance change and the control of gas flow as well as temperature. The detected resistance modulations are 1.0 kΩ and 83.2 kΩ in the cases of 3 wt.% GZO and pure ZnO NW clusters, respectively, indication that we successfully customize the sensitivity of the gas sensors by controlled doping.