Remarkable Improvement of Gas-Sensing Abilities in p-type Oxide Nanowires by Local Modification of the Hole-Accumulation Layer

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

<P>This paper proposes a method for improving the reducing or oxidizing gas-sensing abilities of p-type oxide nanowires (NWs) by locally modifying the hole-accumulation channel through the attachment of p-type nanoparticles (NPs) with different upper valence band levels. In this study, the sensing behaviors of p-CuO NWs functionalized with either p-NiO or p-Co<SUB>3</SUB>O<SUB>4</SUB> NPs were investigated as a model materials system. The attachment of p-NiO NPs greatly improved the reducing gas-sensing performance of p-CuO NWs. In contrast, the p-Co<SUB>3</SUB>O<SUB>4</SUB> NPs improved the oxidizing gas-sensing properties of p-CuO NWs. These results are associated with the local suppression/expansion of the hole-accumulation channel of p-CuO NWs along the radial direction due to hole flow between the NWs and NPs. The approach proposed in this study provides a guideline for fabricating sensitive chemical sensors based on p-CuO NWs.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B>
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