Room temperature gas sensing of p-type TeO2 nanowires

Tellurium dioxide (TeO2) nanowires with a tetragonal structure have been grown by thermally evaporating tellurium metal at 400 degrees C in air. The nanowires produced have diameters ranging from 30 to 200 nm and have lengths of several tens of micrometers. Gas sensors were fabricated using the obtained TeO2 nanowires. The sensing behavior to NO2, NH3, and H2S gases at room temperature showed typical characteristics of a p-type semiconductor. The results demonstrate the potential to develop TeO2 nanowire based gas sensors with low power consumption. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.