Highly discriminative and sensitive detection of volatile organic compounds for monitoring indoor air quality using pure and Au-loaded 2D In2O3 inverse opal thin films

Chul Soon Lee, Zhengfei Dai, Do Hong Kim, Hua Yao Li, Young Moo Jo, Bo Young Kim, Hyung Gi Byun, Insung Hwang, Jong Heun Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The lack of gas selectivity in oxide semiconductor chemiresistors has long been an obstacle to realizing discriminative detection of indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with different health impacts. A simple and reliable algorithm to discriminate between critically harmful aromatic VOCs (benzene, xylene, and toluene) and less harmful ethanol is suggested by the simple combination of sensor signals from pure In2O3 and Au-loaded In2O3 2D inverse opal (IO) thin films prepared by heat-treating the precursor-dipped self-assembled polystyrene templates and Au deposition. The Au-loaded In2O3 IO sensor showed unprecedentedly high responses to 5 ppm ethanol (resistance ratio = 1640.2) and comparably high responses to 5 ppm benzene, p-xylene, and toluene (resistance ratio range of 674.5–1012.9). Such high gas responses were attributed to the periodically porous and thus highly gas-accessible structures, while the clear discrimination between aromatic VOCs and ethanol was achieved by tuning gas selectivity through systematic control of the size, morphology, and loading concentration of Au nano-catalysts. The results of this study can be used for reliable and precise monitoring of indoor air pollutants.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-8
Number of pages8
JournalSensors and Actuators, B: Chemical
Volume273
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018 Nov 10

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by a grant from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) , which was funded by the Korean government (Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST) , Grant No. 2016R1A2A1A05005331 ).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.

Keywords

  • 2-D inverse opal
  • Aromatic volatile organic compound
  • Au-loaded InO
  • Gas sensor
  • Indoor air quality
  • Oxide semiconductor

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Instrumentation
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Surfaces, Coatings and Films
  • Metals and Alloys
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Materials Chemistry

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