Fabrication of ozone sensors on porous glass substrates using gold and silver thin films nanoislands

Porous glass has a vital role to enhance the optical properties in the sensors. In this paper, we reported a simple sensor developed on a porous glass substrate. Initially, we simulated the design in COMSOL Multiphysics and MATLAB environment. Using the simulation results as guidelines, we fabricated the porous formation on a glass plate by immersing in the HF (Hydrogen Fluoride) solution. Then, we fabricated the sensor on the porous glass plate with gold, silver nanoparticles and characterized the sensor using UV- Visible Spectroscopy and AFM. The outcome of this study revealed that gold and silver thin film nanoislands coated on the porous glass substrate exhibited high-performance enhancement in terms of optical, sensitivity, resistivity and surface morphology characteristics towards ozone sensing than the gold and silver thin film nanoislands coated on a non-porous glass plate. Further, of the two binding agents and two metallic nanoislands, the APTMS (Aminopropyl trimethoxysilane) based gold thin film nanoislands coated on the porous glass substrate exhibited better ozone sensing property than the other three sensors.