Journal of Applied Science and Engineering

Published by Tamkang University Press

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Synthesis of indium oxide nanowires on quartz substrate for gas sensor

Abdulqader D. Faisal1, Ali A. Aljubouri1, and Wafaa Khalid Khalef1

1University of Technology, Department of Applied Sciences, Baghdad, Iraq

Received: November 17, 2019
Accepted: April 07, 2020
Publication Date: May 10, 2026

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Schematic diagram of (a) the fabricated sensor device, (b) Homemade measurement stage, (c) Gas sensor setup.

 Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

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In this paper, Indium oxide nanowires (In2O3 NWs) were successfully synthesized on quartz substrate pre-coated with gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The nanowires were characterized via x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-VIS) spectrophotometer. The sputtered of Au NPs on quartz were analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The structural, morphological, and optical properties were investigated. The XRD structure reviled a single crystal, with cubic crystal, with preferred orientation along (222). The SEM revealed nanowires growth. The obtained band gap value of 3.6 eV confirmed the formation of In2O3 nanostructures. Regarding to the characteristics of In2O3 NWs, it was fabricated as an ethanol gas sensor at 10-1500 ppm and an optimized temperature of 210 ℃. The minimum ethanol gas response of Ra/Rg = 1.6 was obtained at a concentration of 10 ppm. The corresponding response and recovery time were achieved at the lowest concentration of 10 ppm is 10 s and 10 s respectively. So, the In2O3 NWs film synthesized via CVD can be considered as a good ethanol gas sensor device at low concentration. In2O3 NWs growth and gas sensing mechanism were also explained.

Keywords: Chemical vapor deposition (CVD); Gas sensor; In2O3 nanowires

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