Issue 14, 2013
From the journal:

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

Reducing cross-sensitivity of TiO2-(B) nanowires to humidity using ultraviolet illumination for trace explosive detection

Danling Wang,a   Antao Chen*ab  and  Alex K.-Y. Jenc  

* Corresponding authors

a Applied Physics Laboratory & Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105, USA

b Department of Physics, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA
E-mail: antaochen@usf.edu
Fax: +1 813 974 5813
Tel: +1 813 974 4326

c Materials Sciences and Engineering Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105, USA
E-mail: ajen@u.washington.edu

Abstract

Environmental humidity is an important factor that can influence the sensing performance of a metal oxide. TiO2-(B) in the form of nanowires has been demonstrated to be a promising material for the detection of explosive gases such as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). However, the elimination of cross-sensitivity of the explosive detectors based on TiO2-(B) toward environmental humidity is still a major challenge. It was found that the cross-sensitivity could be effectively modulated when the thin film of TiO2-(B) nanowires was exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light during the detection of explosives under operating conditions. Such a modulation of sensing responses of TiO2-(B) nanowires to explosives by UV light was attributed to a photocatalytic effect, with which the water adsorbed on the TiO2-(B) nanowire surface was split and therefore the sensor response performance was less affected. It was revealed that the cross-sensitivity could be suppressed up to 51% when exposed to UV light of 365 nm wavelength with an intensity of 40 mW cm−2. This finding proves that the reduction of cross-sensitivity to humidity through UV irradiation is an effective approach that can improve the performance of a sensor based on TiO2-(B) nanowires for the detection of explosive gas.

Graphical abstract: Reducing cross-sensitivity of TiO2-(B) nanowires to humidity using ultraviolet illumination for trace explosive detection

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CP43454K
Article type
Paper
Submitted
01 Oct 2012
Accepted
04 Feb 2013
First published
11 Feb 2013

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013,15, 5017-5021

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Reducing cross-sensitivity of TiO2-(B) nanowires to humidity using ultraviolet illumination for trace explosive detection

D. Wang, A. Chen and A. K.-Y. Jen, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2013, 15, 5017 DOI: 10.1039/C3CP43454K

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