Environmental gas sensor and method of manufacturing the same

• US 8,281,642 B2
• Filed: 05/26/2010
• Issued: 10/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Lee, Su Jae, Park, Jin Ah, Moon, Jae Hyun, Kim, Seong Hyun, Zyung, Tae Hyoung, Chu, Hye Yong
• Primary Examiner(s): Rogers, David
• Application Number:
  US12/787,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20110120866A1
• Time in Patent Office: 867 Days
• Field of Search: 73/232, 73/233, 73/233.1, 73/233.2, 73/233.4, 73/310.1, 73/310.2, 73/310.5, 73/310.6
• US Class Current: 73/31.01
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 27/127 comprising nanoparticles

Abstract

Provided are an environmental gas sensor and a method of manufacturing the same. The environmental gas sensor includes an insulating substrate, metal electrodes formed on the insulating substrate, and a sensing layer in which different kinds of nanofibers are arranged perpendicular to each other on the metal electrodes. Thus, the environmental gas sensor can simultaneously sense two kinds of gases.

Claims

1. An environmental gas sensor, comprising:

an insulating substrate;

metal electrodes formed on the insulating substrate; and

a sensing layer in which different kinds of nanofibers are arranged perpendicular to and overlapping each other on the metal electrodes.

2. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the insulating substrate is selected from the group consisting of a single crystalline oxide substrate, a ceramic substrate, a silicon semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate, an insulating substrate including a microheater on a bottom or top thereof, and a micromachine structure substrate including a microheater therein.

3. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the insulating substrate has a thickness of 0.1 to 1 mm.

4. The sensor of claim 1, wherein each of the metal electrodes includes at least one selected from the group consisting of platinum (Pt), palladium (Pd), gold (Au), silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), nickel (Ni), titanium (Ti), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), tin (Sn), molybdenum (Mo), ruthenium (Ru) and indium (In).

5. The sensor of claim 1, wherein each of the metal electrodes has a thickness of 10 to 1000 nm.

6. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the different kinds of nanofibers are selected from organic and inorganic semiconductor nanofibers having high responsiveness to different specific gases.

7. The sensor of claim 6, wherein one of the different kinds of nanofibers is an n-type oxide semiconductor compound, and the other one of the nanofibers is a p-type oxide semiconductor compound.

8. The sensor of claim 7, wherein the n-type oxide semiconductor compound includes at least one selected from the group consisting of an ABO₃-type perovskite oxide (BaTiO₃, metal-doped BaTiO₃, SrTiO₃, or BaSnO₃), MgO, CaO, TiO₂, ZrO₂, V₂O₅, Nb₂O₅, Ta₂O₅, MoO₃, WO₃, ZnO, Al₂O₃, Ga₂O₃, In₂O₃, and SnO₂, and the p-type oxide semiconductor compound includes at least one selected from the group consisting of Y₂O₃, La₂O₃, CeO₃, Mn₂O₃, CO₂O₄, NiO, PdO, Ag₂O, Bi₂O₃, Sb₂O₃, CuO, and TeO₂.

9. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the metal electrodes include a pair of first metal electrodes between which one of the different kinds of nanofibers is arranged, and a pair of second metal electrodes between which the other one of the nanofibers is arranged.

10. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the nanofiber has a diameter of 1 to 1000 nm.

11. A method of manufacturing an environmental gas sensor, comprising:

forming metal electrodes on an insulating substrate;

arranging different kinds of nanofibers perpendicular to and overlapping each other on the metal electrodes through electrospinning; and

forming a sensing layer by heat-treating the different kinds of nanofibers arranged.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein arranging the different kinds of nanofibers perpendicular to each other comprises:

arranging one of the different kinds of nanofibers by electrospinning a combination solution having a first oxide semiconductor and a first polymer on a pair of first metal electrodes; and

arranging the other one of the nanofibers perpendicular to the previously-arranged nanofiber by electrospinning a combination solution having a second oxide semiconductor and a second polymer on a pair of second metal electrodes.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first oxide semiconductor is an n-type semiconductor oxide, and the second oxide semiconductor is a p-type semiconductor oxide.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first oxide semiconductor is a p-type semiconductor oxide, and the second oxide semiconductor is an n-type semiconductor oxide.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the combination solution including the first or second oxide semiconductor and polymer is prepared by mixing a metal oxide or metal oxide precursor, a polymer and a solvent, and stirring the resulting mixture at room temperature or more.