High Performance Micro CO Sensors Based on ZnO-SnO₂ Composite Nanofibers with Anti-Humidity Characteristics

ZnO-SnO₂ composite nanofibers are synthesized via an electrospinning method and characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Micro sensors are fabricated by spinning the nanofibers on Si substrates with Pt signal and heater electrodes. The sensors with small areas (600 μm×200 μm) can detect CO down to 1 ppm at 360°C. The corresponding sensitivity, response time, and recovery time are 3.2, 6 s, and 11 s, respectively. Importantly, the sensors can operate at high humidity conditions. The sensitivity only decreases to 2.3 when the sensors are exposed to 1 ppm CO at 95% relative humidity. These excellent sensing properties are due to combining the benefits of one-dimensional nanomaterials and the ZnO-SnO₂ grain boundary in the nanofibers.