Evidence of the self-heating effect on surface reactivity and gas sensing of metal oxide nanowire chemiresistors

The effect of Joule self-heating of the semiconducting metal oxide nanowire (here (and below unless specified), due to the generality of the effect, we use the term 'nanowire' without specification as to whether the nanobelt or other class of quasi-1D nanostructure is considered) conductometric gas sensor on its surface reactivity and kinetics is demonstrated. Due to small thermal capacitance and hampered thermal losses from the nanowire to its surroundings, the sensor was able to operate without a heater, consuming only a few microwatts of power. These results demonstrate the importance of the self-heating effect in nanowire electronics and its potential use in chemical and bio-sensing, where the ultra-small size of the active element and minimal power consumption are crucial.