title: Pt/ZnO nanoarray nanogenerator as self-powered active gas sensor with linear ethanol sensing at room temperature.
abstract: A self-powered gas sensor that can actively detect ethanol at room temperature has been realized from a Pt/ZnO nanoarray nanogenerator. Pt nanoparticles are uniformly distributed on the whole surface of ZnO nanowires. The piezoelectric output of Pt/ZnO nanoarrays can act not only as a power source, but also as a response signal to ethanol at room temperature. Upon exposure to dry air and 1500 ppm ethanol at room temperature, the piezoelectric output of the device under the same compressive strain is 0.672 and 0.419 V, respectively. Moreover, a linear dependence of the sensitivity on the ethanol concentration is observed. Such a linear ethanol sensing at room temperature can be attributed to the atmosphere-dependent variety of the screen effect on the piezoelectric output of ZnO nanowires, the catalytic properties of Pt nanoparticles, and the Schottky barriers at Pt/ZnO interfaces. The present results can stimulate research in the direction of designing new material systems for self-powered room-temperature gas sensing.
authors.affiliation: College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110004, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yayu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Yuxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Xinyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xue