Silver-doped zinc oxide single nanowire multifunctional nanosensor with a significant enhancement in response

Enhanced performances were obtained for nanosensors based on a single nanowire of silver-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Ag). Arrays of crystalline ZnO:Ag nanowires were synthesized by electrodeposition on Fdoped tin oxide coated substrates and studied by SEM, EDX, TEM, HRTEM, SIMS, XPS, PL and microRaman spectroscopy. Integration of a single nanowire or a single microwire on the chip was performed by employing metal maskless nanodeposition in the dual beam focused electron/ion beam instrument. The ultraviolet (UV) response and hydrogen (H-2) gas response were studied for nanodevices and microdevices based on a single ZnO:Ag nanowire. We found that ZnO:Ag nanowire based nanosensor possesses a much faster response/recovery time and a higher response to UV radiation and hydrogen gas (similar to 50%) than those reported in literature. An increase in current value of about two orders in magnitude I-UVON/I-UVOFF was observed under exposure to UV light. Faster response/recovery times of about 0.98 s/0.87 s were observed. The ZnO:Ag nanowires and microwires can serve as nano-building materials for ultrasensitive and ultra-fast sensors with reduced power consumption. The mechanisms for such improved responses to UV and H-2 were discussed. The developed nanomaterial is of great scientific interest for further studies as promising candidates for fabricating multifunctional nano-sensors, LEDs and photodetectors by bottomup and hybrid nanotechnologies. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.