In-situ one-step method for fabricating three-dimensional grass-like carbon-doped ZrO2 films for room temperature alcohol and acetone sensors

Carbon-doped ZrO2 film with three-dimensional (3D) grass-like architecture was fabricated directly on interdigitated electrodes via one-step electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) using zirconatrane precursor without any additional carbon source and template. A one-step synthetic route was presented in which no additional film fabrication steps were required. The mesoporous micrograss structure comprised numerous interconnected nanoleaves. The synergistic combination of the unique morphology and carbon doping can offer superior room-temperature gas sensing activity for detecting alcohol and acetone. The sensitivity of the devices to methanol, ethanol, n-propanol and acetone was also tested. The gas sensing test results showed that the 3D hierarchical carbon-doped ZrO2 based sensor exhibited excellent gas sensing performance at room temperature in terms of high response, short response/recovery times, good repeatability, long-term stability and superior selectivity to acetone, and has much higher response in comparison with the ZrO2 sensor derived from commercial starting material.