PTB7 Decorated ZnO-Nanorod-Based Room-Temperature Ammonia Gas Sensor

We demonstrate a poly ([4,8-bis[(2-ethylhexyl) oxy]benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl][3-fluoro-2-[(2-ethylhexyl)carbonyl]thieno[3,4-b] thiophenediyl]) (PTB7) decorated zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod-based interdigitated metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) device as ammonia (NH3) sensor at room temperature. The gas sensor response is 66.92% at 20 ppm and 2 V of bias at ambient temperature (similar to 25 degrees C). The average roughness and the root-meansquare roughness of the hydrothermally synthesized ZnO nanorods (ZnO NRs) were measured as 0.140 and 0.175 mu m, respectively. The device was found sensitive at gas concentration as low as similar to 2 ppm with a response of 7.12%. At a gas flow rate of 20 ppm and a bias of 2 V, the response and recovery times of the as-fabricated device were measured to be 5 and 30 s, respectively.

Automated summary

A PTB7-decorated ZnO nanorod-based MSM ammonia sensor was demonstrated in this study, showing a high response rate to 20 ppm ammonia gas at room temperature, and still maintaining a certain response rate at a low concentration of 2 ppm. The device also exhibited fast response and recovery times.