Crystalline indium oxide nanowires were synthesized following optimization of growth parameters. Oxygen vacancies were found to impact the optical and electronic properties of the as-grown nanowires. Photoluminescence measurements showed a strong U.V emission peak at 3.18 eV and defect peaks in the visible region at 2.85 eV, 2.66 eV and 2.5 eV. The defect peaks are attributed to neutral and charged states of oxygen vacancies. Post-growth annealing in oxygen environment and passivation with sulphur are shown to be effective in reducing the intensity of the defect induced emission. The as-grown nanowires connected in an FET type of configuration shows n-type conductivity. A single indium oxide nanowire with ohmic contacts was found to be sensitive to gas molecules adsorbed on its surface.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-02-06T17:05:22Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Mylena Pinto Nascimento - Mestrado em Física - 2010.pdf: 26227873 bytes, checksum: 74d40caac3d585dfb4d76146eb00d921 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-06T17:05:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Mylena Pinto Nascimento - Mestrado em Física - 2010.pdf: 26227873 bytes, checksum: 74d40caac3d585dfb4d76146eb00d921 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-11-23 / CAPES / CNPq / Esse trabalho apresenta a produção e caracterização estrutural e morfológica das perovskitas simples TRFeO3 (TR = Sm, Eu, Gd), e o estudo da possibilidade de utilização desses sistemas como sensores de gás. Todas as amostras de TRFeO3 foram produzidas pela síntese de reação no estado sólido, que é uma síntese ainda pouco explorada na literatura para a obtenção desse sistema. O estudo das propriedades estruturais foram realizados por difração de raios X e adsorção e dessorção de N2, e a análise morfológica foi realizada através da microscopia eletrônica de varredura (MEV). Todas essas análises foram estudadas em função da temperatura e tempo de sinterização, bem como do cátion da terra rara utilizada. Através das análises por difratometria, foi possível a identificação da fase formada e a estimativa do tamanho médio do cristalito. Tais análises revelaram coexistência de fase com o composto TR3Fe5O12 para amostras sinterizadas a 1200°C, independente do tempo de sinterização utilizado, onde houve uma tendência a um equilíbrio na formação das fases. Já as amostras sinterizadas a 1100°C apresentaram-se monofásicas com o composto TRFeO3, com tamanho de cristalito variando conforme o tempo de sinterização. As imagens de MEV mostraram uma morfologia porosa, adequada para sensores de gás, apresentando grãos com formatos arredondados e formação de pescoço, conforme o tempo de sinterização utilizado. Independente da temperatura e tempo de sinterização, o tamanho dos grãos variaram em torno de 1 mm. Para avaliar a sensibilidade aos vapores de gasolina, foi desenvolvido um sistema baseado em medidas de resistividade elétrica, usando o método de 4-fios de Kelvin. Os resultados revelaram que um mecanismo diferente da literatura, onde a resistividade do material diminuiu quando exposto à atmosfera da mistura ar sintético/gasolina, a partir da temperatura ambiente, com boa reprodutibilidade. Através da dinâmica de tempo de resposta, em alta concentração de vapor do combustível utilizado, foi verificado que a capacidade sensorial dos compostos estudados, possivelmente, possui uma limitação com relação aos parâmetros estruturais, já que ambas propriedades estão relacionadas. Essa observação foi comprovada através do estudo realizado pelas medidas de adsorção e dessorção de N2, onde a área superficial das amostras foi em torno de 1,8 m2/g, o que diminui, significantemente, a sensibilidade. / This paper presents the production and structural and morphological characterization of simple perovskites REFeO3 (RE = Sm, Eu, Gd), and the possibility of using such systems as gas sensors. All REFeO3 samples were produced by the synthesis of solid state reaction, which is still little explored in the literature to obtain this system. The study of structural properties were carried out by X-ray diffraction and N2 adsorption and desorption, and the morphological analysis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). All these tests were studied as a function of temperature and sintering time, and the rare earth cation used. Through this analysis by diffraction was possible to identify the phase formed and the estimated average size of crystallite. Such analysis revealed the coexistence of phase with the compound RE3Fe5O12 for samples sintered at 1200°C, regardless of time of sintering, where there was a tendency to an equilibrium in the formation stage. The samples sintered at 1100°C were presented with the monophasic compound REFeO3, with crystallite size varying according to the sintering time. The SEM images showed a porous morphology, suitable for gas sensors, showing grains with rounded shapes and neck formation, in accordance with the sintering time used. The grain size varied around 1 mm independent of temperature and sintering time. A system based on measurements of electrical resistivity, using the method of 4-wire Kelvin, was developed to detect the sensitivity to the vapors of gasoline. The results revealed that a different mechanism from literature, where the resistivity of the material decreased when exposed to atmospheric mixing synthetic air/gasoline from the ambient temperature, with good reproducibility. Through the dynamic response time, at high concentration of gasoline vapor, it was found that the sensory ability of the compounds studied, possibly, has a limitation with respect to structural parameters, since both properties are related. This observation was confirmed by the study performed by the measures of the adsorption and desorption of N2, where the surface area of the samples was about 1.8 m2/g, which decreases significantly the sensitivity.

Mimicking the biological olfactory systems that consist of olfactory receptor arrays with large surface area and massively-diversified chemical reactivity, three dimensional (3D) metal oxide nanowire arrays were used as the active materials for gas detection. Metal oxide nanowire arrays share similar 3D structures as the array of mammal's olfactory receptors and the chemical reactivity of nanowire array can be modified by surface coatings. In this dissertation, two standalone gas sensors based on metal oxide nanowire arrays prepared by microfabrication and in-situ micromanipulation, respectively, have been demonstrated. The sensors based on WO3 nanowire arrays can detect 50 ppb NO2 with a fast response; well-aligned CuO nanowire array present a new detection mechanism, which can identify H2S at a concentration of 500 ppb. To expand the material library of 3D metal oxide nanowire arrays for gas sensing, a general route to polycrystalline metal oxide nanowire array has been introduced by using ZnO nanowire arrays as structural templates. The effectiveness of this method for high performance gas sensing was first investigated by single-nanowire devices. The polycrystalline metal oxide coatings showed high performance for gas detection and their sensitivity can be further enhanced by catalytic noble metal decorations. To form electronic nose systems, different metal oxide coatings and catalytic decorations were employed to diversify the chemical reactivity of the sensors. The systems can detect low concentrated H2S and NO2 at room temperature down to part-per-billion level. The system with different catalytic metal coatings is also capable of discriminiating five different gases (H2S, NO2, NH3, H2 and CO).

To build novel electronic noses for mimicking biological olfactory systems that consist of olfactory receptor arrays with large surface area and massively-diversified chemical reactivity, three dimensional (3D) vertical aligned ZnO nanowire arrays were employed as active materials for gas detection. ZnO nanowire arrays share 3D structures similar to mammalian olfactory receptor arrays, with thousands of vertical nanowires providing a high reception area which can significantly enhance the sensors’ sensitivity. Meanwhile, with different material decorations (such as SnO2, In2O3, WO3 and polymers), each array of nanowires can produce a distinguishable response for each separate analyte, which would provide a promising way to improve the selectivity. Both patterned grown well-aligned and wafer size random-distributed 3D nanowire array sensing devices are investigated. Several different types of gas sensors have been investigated in this dissertation. Metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors based on 3D metal oxides/ZnO vertical nanowire arrays have detected NO2 and H2S down to ppb level, and five gases of NO2, H2S, H2, NH3, and CO have been discriminated. Active self-powered gas sensors based on 3D metal oxides/ZnO vertical nanowire arrays have been successfully fabricated and worked well for H2S and NO2 detection. With the decoration by mixture of PEDOT polymer with metal oxide nanoparticles, ZnO vertical nanowire array gas sensors have fast response and recovery time as well as good sensitivity to volatile organic gases of acetone, methanol and ethanol. A novel ionization sensor also has been built by ZnO vertical nannowire arrays, and this device could be able to ionize air under safety operation voltage.

As propriedades de superfícies de pós cerâmicos desempenham um papel importante na produção de dispositivos de alta qualidade, elevado desempenho e confiabilidade. Muitas dessas propriedades estão relacionadas a interações com o meio em que o material esta presente. Um exemplo, são materiais cerâmicos utilizados em sensores de gases. A perovisquita BaSnO3 (estanato de bário) é um de material cerâmico promissor a sensor de gás. Neste sentido, a proposta do presente trabalho consistiu em realizar a síntese do composto BaSnO3 por reação no estado sólido e preparar cerâmicas com o objetivo de estudar suas propriedades estruturais, microestruturais e seu comportamento elétrico em função da atmosfera. As amostras foram caracterizadas utilizando-se as técnicas de termogravimetria, calorimetria exploratória diferencial, difratometria de raios x, microscopia eletrônica de varredura, dilatometria e espectroscopia de impedância. Para a produção do BaSnO3 foram utilizadas duas metodologias de síntese. A primeira, chamada de rota 1, a preparação foi realizada a partir da mistura direta dos pós precursores, sem aquecimento prévio. A segunda metodologia, denominada rota 2, os pós precursores foram submetidos a um aquecimento separadamente antes da mistura e síntese. Os resultados obtidos utilizando a rota 1 mostraram a presença de fases secundárias (SnO2 e BaCO3) ao material pretendido, além da formação de fase líquida durante o processo de sinterização das cerâmicas. Contudo, os resultados obtidos com o procedimento adotado na rota 2 mostraram apenas a presença da fase desejada e ausência de fase líquida durante a sinterização. Com o objetivo de assegurar que a presença de fases secundárias na rota 1 e a fase líquida observadas nas microestruturas foram devido a presença de água adsorvida nos pós precursores, corpos cerâmicos `a verde produzidos pela rota 2 foram submetidos a imersão em água por aproximadamente 10 horas antes da sinterização. Este procedimento não resultou no aparecimento de fases secundárias, como era esperado, porém verificou-se a formação de fase líquida durante o processo de sinterização. As cerâmicas assim processadas apresentaram menor densidade relativa e maior tamanho médio de grão. Para a caracterização elétrica das cerâmicas foram utilizados as seguintes atmosferas: ar, em condição de pressão distinta, argônio contendo 5% de hidrogênio e argônio contendo 15% de hidrogênio. Os resultados mostraram que o estanato de bário apresenta significativa sensibilidade relativa da condutividade elétrica para as atmosferas estudadas a temperaturas acima de 100oC. / The surface properties of ceramic powders play an important role in the production of devices of high quality, high performance and reliability. Many of these properties are related to interactions with the environment. One example, ceramics are used in gas sensor devices. A ceramic material that has been reported as promising gas sensor is perovskite BaSnO3 (barium stannate). In this work we performed the synthesis of the BaSnO3 compound by solid state reaction to study its structural properties, microstructure and electrical behavior in function of atmosphere. The samples were characterized by thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, dilatometry and impedance spectroscopy. For the production of BaSnO3 used two methods of synthesis. the first method, called route 1, the preparation was performed directly from the mixing of powder precursors. The second, named as route 2, the precursor powders were subjected to heating separately before mixing. The results obtained using the route 1 showed the presence of secondary phases (SnO2 and BaCO3) and the formation of liquid phase during sintering of the ceramics. The results obtained with the procedure adopted in the route 2 showed only the presence of the desired (BaSnO3) phase and no liquid phase during sintering. In order to investigate what the effects caused by the water adsorption by perovskite BaSnO3, the green-ceramic bodies produced by route 2 were submitted to immersion in water prior to sintering. This procedure did not result in the appearance of secondary phases, but was verified the presence of the liquid phase, and the ceramics showed lower density and larger average grain size. For the electrical characterization we used the following atmospheres: vacuum, air, argon containing 5% hydrogen and argon containing 15% hydrogen. The results showed that the barium stannate shows a significant sensitivity to the conductivity in the studied atmospheres at temperatures above 100oC.

As propriedades de superfícies de pós cerâmicos desempenham um papel importante na produção de dispositivos de alta qualidade, elevado desempenho e confiabilidade. Muitas dessas propriedades estão relacionadas a interações com o meio em que o material esta presente. Um exemplo, são materiais cerâmicos utilizados em sensores de gases. A perovisquita BaSnO3 (estanato de bário) é um de material cerâmico promissor a sensor de gás. Neste sentido, a proposta do presente trabalho consistiu em realizar a síntese do composto BaSnO3 por reação no estado sólido e preparar cerâmicas com o objetivo de estudar suas propriedades estruturais, microestruturais e seu comportamento elétrico em função da atmosfera. As amostras foram caracterizadas utilizando-se as técnicas de termogravimetria, calorimetria exploratória diferencial, difratometria de raios x, microscopia eletrônica de varredura, dilatometria e espectroscopia de impedância. Para a produção do BaSnO3 foram utilizadas duas metodologias de síntese. A primeira, chamada de rota 1, a preparação foi realizada a partir da mistura direta dos pós precursores, sem aquecimento prévio. A segunda metodologia, denominada rota 2, os pós precursores foram submetidos a um aquecimento separadamente antes da mistura e síntese. Os resultados obtidos utilizando a rota 1 mostraram a presença de fases secundárias (SnO2 e BaCO3) ao material pretendido, além da formação de fase líquida durante o processo de sinterização das cerâmicas. Contudo, os resultados obtidos com o procedimento adotado na rota 2 mostraram apenas a presença da fase desejada e ausência de fase líquida durante a sinterização. Com o objetivo de assegurar que a presença de fases secundárias na rota 1 e a fase líquida observadas nas microestruturas foram devido a presença de água adsorvida nos pós precursores, corpos cerâmicos `a verde produzidos pela rota 2 foram submetidos a imersão em água por aproximadamente 10 horas antes da sinterização. Este procedimento não resultou no aparecimento de fases secundárias, como era esperado, porém verificou-se a formação de fase líquida durante o processo de sinterização. As cerâmicas assim processadas apresentaram menor densidade relativa e maior tamanho médio de grão. Para a caracterização elétrica das cerâmicas foram utilizados as seguintes atmosferas: ar, em condição de pressão distinta, argônio contendo 5% de hidrogênio e argônio contendo 15% de hidrogênio. Os resultados mostraram que o estanato de bário apresenta significativa sensibilidade relativa da condutividade elétrica para as atmosferas estudadas a temperaturas acima de 100oC. / The surface properties of ceramic powders play an important role in the production of devices of high quality, high performance and reliability. Many of these properties are related to interactions with the environment. One example, ceramics are used in gas sensor devices. A ceramic material that has been reported as promising gas sensor is perovskite BaSnO3 (barium stannate). In this work we performed the synthesis of the BaSnO3 compound by solid state reaction to study its structural properties, microstructure and electrical behavior in function of atmosphere. The samples were characterized by thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, dilatometry and impedance spectroscopy. For the production of BaSnO3 used two methods of synthesis. the first method, called route 1, the preparation was performed directly from the mixing of powder precursors. The second, named as route 2, the precursor powders were subjected to heating separately before mixing. The results obtained using the route 1 showed the presence of secondary phases (SnO2 and BaCO3) and the formation of liquid phase during sintering of the ceramics. The results obtained with the procedure adopted in the route 2 showed only the presence of the desired (BaSnO3) phase and no liquid phase during sintering. In order to investigate what the effects caused by the water adsorption by perovskite BaSnO3, the green-ceramic bodies produced by route 2 were submitted to immersion in water prior to sintering. This procedure did not result in the appearance of secondary phases, but was verified the presence of the liquid phase, and the ceramics showed lower density and larger average grain size. For the electrical characterization we used the following atmospheres: vacuum, air, argon containing 5% hydrogen and argon containing 15% hydrogen. The results showed that the barium stannate shows a significant sensitivity to the conductivity in the studied atmospheres at temperatures above 100oC.

abstract: Connected health is an emerging field of science and medicine that enables the collection and integration of personal biometrics and environment, contributing to more precise and accurate assessment of the person’s state. It has been proven to help to establish wellbeing as well as prevent, diagnose, and determine the prognosis of chronic diseases. The development of sensing devices for connected health is challenging because devices used in the field of medicine need to meet not only selectivity and sensitivity of detection, but also robustness and performance under hash usage conditions, typically by non-experts in analysis. In this work, the properties and fabrication process of sensors built for sensing devices capable of detection of a biomarker as well as pollutant levels in the environment are discussed. These sensing devices have been developed and perfected with the aim of overcoming the aforementioned challenges and contributing to the evolving connected health field. In the first part of this work, a wireless, solid-state, portable, and continuous ammonia (NH3) gas sensing device is introduced. This device determines the concentration of NH3 contained in a biological sample within five seconds and can wirelessly transmit data to other Bluetooth enabled devices. In this second part of the work, the use of a thermal-based flow meter to assess exhalation rate is evaluated. For this purpose, a mobile device named here mobile indirect calorimeter (MIC) was designed and used to measure resting metabolic rate (RMR) from subjects, which relies on the measure of O2 consumption rate (VO2) and CO2 generation rate (VCO2), and compared to a practical reference method in hospital. In the third part of the work, the sensing selectivity, stability and sensitivity of an aged molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) selective to the adsorption of hydrocarbons were studied. The optimized material was integrated in tuning fork sensors to detect environmental hydrocarbons, and demonstrated the needed stability for field testing. Finally, the hydrocarbon sensing device was used in conjunction with a MIC to explore potential connections between hydrocarbon exposure level and resting metabolic rate of individuals. Both the hydrocarbon sensing device and the metabolic rate device were under field testing. The correlation between the hydrocarbons and the resting metabolic rate were investigated. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Chemical Engineering 2018

Hoy en día, la necesidad de monitorizar y controlar el medio ambiente es a cada vezmás importante debido al creciente nivel de gases tóxicos que provienen de la expansiónde las actividades industriales, amenazando así el medio ambiente y la salud humana. Eldesarrollo de la nano-tecnología ha permitido fabricar sensores de gases portables,altamente sensibles, selectivos, de bajo coste y de bajo consumo de potencia.Los nanotubos de carbono (NTC) están ganando un interés a cada vez más considerablepor parte de la comunidad científica debido a su geometría y morfología únicas y susexcelentes propiedades electrónicas, mecánicas, térmicas i ópticas. Esto hace de ellosunos candidatos prometedores para un amplio rango de aplicaciones como por ejemplonuevos sensores de gases con propiedades mejoradas. En este contexto, mediante lapresente tesis, se ha realizado un profundo estudio para explorar las propiedades dediferentes sensores basados en nano-materiales híbridos constituidos por nanotubos decarbono junto a otros materiales con el fin de detectar gases tóxicos de manera eficiente.El trabajo realizado consistió en el diseño, la fabricación, la caracterización, y laoptimización de nanosensores híbridos.Esta tesis fue financiada en el marco del proyecto Europeo "Nano2hybrids", cuyoobjetivo era de diseñar la interfaz de las nano-partículas del metal con los nanotubos decarbono a través del control de los defectos estructurales y químicos producidos por ladescarga de un plasma de radiofrecuencia y aplicarlo a la detección de gases. Elbenceno fue elegido como gas principal, debido a sus graves efectos tóxicos a niveles depocas ppb y también debido a la no existencia en el mercado de un detector de bajocoste para benceno. De hecho, no hay en el estado de la técnica, un sensor de gas quepuede detectar de forma selectiva este gas a nivel operativo de ppb y trabajando atemperatura ambiente. Así, el reto de esta tesis era obtener un sensor altamente sensible,selectivo y estable, portátil y de bajo coste para la detección de benceno.En este sentido, se estudiaron exhaustivamente diferentes materiales basados ennanotubos de carbono funcionalizados, decorados con nanopartículas de metal o biendecorados o mezclados con óxidos metálicos, en términos de su adecuación para ladetección de gases (por ejemplo, sus sensibilidad, selectividad, estabilidad, y elmecanismo de detección, etc.). En particular se estudió la detección de diferentes gasescomo (benceno (C6H6 ), monóxido de carbono (CO), dióxido de nitrógeno (NO2), eletileno (C2H4), el sulfuro de hidrógeno (H2S), amoníaco (NH3) y agua (H2O)). Nuestrastareas consistieron en investigar experimentalmente y teóricamente el efecto de lascondiciones de preparación de los materiales (p.e. el tratamiento con plasma, lanaturaleza del precursor y tamaño de las nanoparticulas de metales), fabricación delsensor (p.e., técnica de deposición, el efecto del tipo de metal del los electrodos delsensor), y de las condiciones de caracterización del sensor (p.e., temperatura deoperación, flujo de gas,) sobre las propiedades sensoras de los mismos. Todo ello hapermitido adquirir conocimientos, explicar los mecanismos de funcionamiento en elsensado de gases de los diferentes materiales investigados y con ello desarrollar unsensor de gases adecuado para la detección de benceno.Hemos encontrado que los materiales híbridos que consisten en nanotubos tratados conplasma de oxígeno y decorados con diferentes nanopartículas de metal, muestran unamayor capacitad de detección a temperatura ambiente respecto a los nanotubos decarbono en bruto o los funcionalizados sólo con plasma. Las propiedades interfacialesde los materiales híbridos resultantes pueden ser adaptadas, lo que ofrece una enormeflexibilidad para el ajuste de sus propiedades sensoras. Cuando se combinaron en unamatriz de micro-sensores que opera a temperatura ambiente, nanotubos decorados condiferentes metales, de forma que unos resulten sensibles al benceno y otros insensibles,esto permitió por primera vez la realización de un prototipo de bajo coste capaz dedetectar selectivamente y a temperatura ambiente el benceno presente a nivel de trazas(por debajo de 50 ppbs) en una mezcla de gases. El prototipo realizado presenta unostiempos de respuesta y de recuperación de 60 s y 10 minutos respectivamente además deuna buena estabilidad y reproducibilidad. Este prototipo se encuentra protegido por unapatente que ha sido licenciada a una compañía que se encargará de la comercializaciónindustrial del producto.In the last few years, there has been a growing demand for monitoring the environment,especially with the increasing concern by the release of toxic gases emitted by manmadeactivities. The development of nanotechnology has created a huge potential for buildinghighly sensitive, selective, low cost, and portable gas sensors with low powerconsumption.Nowadays, carbon nanotubes are receiving an intense interest from the scientificcommunity, due to their unique geometry, morphology, electronic, mechanical, thermaland optical properties, which make them a promising candidate for many industrialapplications including new gas sensors for the detection of toxic species. In this context,in this thesis a deep study is devoted to explore the sensing properties of differenthybrid nanomaterials based on carbon nanotubes for an efficient detection of toxicgases. The design, fabrication, characterization, and optimization of gas sensors usinghybrid materials have been carried out.This thesis was financially supported by the European project "Nano2hybrids", whichexploits the interface design of metal nanocluster-carbon nanotube hybrids via controlof structural and chemical defects in a plasma discharge, for designing gas sensors withsuperior performance. Benzene was chosen as the principal target gas due to its serioustoxic effects at low ppb levels and the fact that there are no reliable, low cost andselective benzene detectors in the market. In fact, no gas sensor able to selectivelydetect this gas at ppb levels and operating at ambient temperature has been reported upto now in the literature. So, the challenge of the project was to fabricate sensitive,highly selective, stable, portable, and low cost benzene gas sensor employing hybridnanomaterials.Herein, functionalized MWCNTs, metal decorated MWCNTs, and metal oxidedecorated MWCNTs or metal oxide and MWCNT mixtures were deeply investigated interms of their gas sensing performances (e.g, sensitivity, selectivity, stability, detectionmechanism,. etc) towards the detection of different gases (benzene (C6H6), carbonmonoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ethylene (C2H4), hydrogen sulfide (H2S),ammonia (NH3), and water (H2O)). Our tasks were to investigate experimentally andtheoretically the effects of material preparation conditions (e.g., plasma treatment,nanocluster precursor and size), sensor fabrication (e.g., deposition technique,electrodes sensor metal), and sensor characterization conditions (e.g., operatingtemperature, gas flow) on the gas sensing properties of our devices, and to acquireknowledge in order to develop a selective benzene detector. Based on experimental andtheoretical results, different mechanisms for the interaction between gases and thehybrid materials tested have been proposed.We found that hybrid materials consisting of oxygen plasma treated multiwalled carbonnanotubes decorated with different metal nanoparticles showed room temperaturesensing capability. Responsiveness to gases of these hybrid materials was higher thanthat of pristine or plasma functionalized carbon nanotubes. Metal decoated CNTs can betailored for the recognition of different gases and vapors with different reactivities,which offers enormous flexibility for tuning the interfacial properties of the resultinghybrid materials and thus, of their sensing properties. When combined in a microsensorarray operating at room temperature, the use of benzene-sensitive and benzeneinsensitivemetal-decorated multiwalled carbon nanotubes, allowed for the first time theimplementation of a low cost detector prototype, which can selectively detect benzenewhen present at trace levels (below 50 ppb) in a gas mixture. Sensors present responseand recovery times of 60 s and 10 min respectively, good stability and reproducibility.This type of sensors are protected by a patent, and licensed to a company for industrialcommercialization.

En aquesta tesi es detalla la metodologia per obtindre sensors de gasos basats en òxid de tungstè nanoestructurat sobre suports micromecanitzats de silici. Aquesta nanoestructuració s’ha fet mitjançant una capa d’alúmina porosa como a motlle, pel que s’ha desenvolupat una metodologia per a compatibilitzar l'anodització de l’alumini, i altres metalls com el tungstè, amb els processos estàndards del silici. S’han desenvolupat dos tipus de capes nanoestructurades, nanotubs i nanopunts de WO3. Els nanotubs s’han obtingut depositant mitjançant polvorització catòdica reactiva la capa sensible sobre alúmina porosa recobrint les parets dels pors. Els nanopunts s’han obtingut anoditzant una bicapa d’alumini i tungstè, on la primera anodització crea la alúmina porosa i la segona fa créixer els nanopunts d’òxid de tungstè en la base dels pors. S’ha analitzat la composició, morfologia i funcionament com a sensors de gasos d’ambdós materials nanoestructurats i s’han comparat els resultats amb sensors basats en materials sense nanoestructuració. / En esta tesis se detalla la metodologia para obtener sensores de gases basados en óxido de tungsteno nanoestructurado sobre soportes micromecanizados de silicio. Dicha nanoestructuración se ha obtenido empleando una capa de alúmina porosa como molde, por lo que se desarrolla una metodología para compatibilizar la anodización del aluminio, y otros metales como el tungsteno, con los procesos estándares del silicio. Se han desarrollado dos tipos de capas nanoestructuradas, nanotubos y nanopuntos de WO3. Los nanotubos se han obtenido depositando por pulverización catódica reactiva la capa sensible sobre alúmina porosa recubriendo las paredes de sus poros. Los nanopuntos se han obtenido anodizando una bicapa de aluminio y tungsteno, donde la primera anodización crea la alúmina porosa y la segunda hace crecer los nanopuntos de óxido de tungsteno en la base de los poros. Se ha analizado la composición, morfología y funcionamiento como sensores de gases en ambos casos y se han comparado los resultados con los de sensores sin nanoestructuración. / This thesis shows the methodology to obtain nanostructured tungsten oxide layer as sensing material on silicon micromachined gas sensor devices. A porous anodised alumina layer was used as pattern to obtain it, so a technique has been developed to make compatible the anodising of aluminium and other metals like tungsten with the standard silicon processes. Two different nanostructuring approaches were developed, nanotube and nanodot based tungsten oxide layers. The WO3 nanotube layer has been obtained by the tungsten oxide deposition using reactive sputtering on the porous alumina layer. As a result a continuous sensing layer coats the pores without clogging them. WO3 nanodot layers were obtained by the anodising of an aluminium and tungsten bilayer, where the first anodising process grows the porous alumina layer and the second one generates the tungsten oxide nanodots in the end of the pores. Compositional and morphological studies and the study of their behaviour as gas sensors where conducted for the two nanomaterials. The results have been compared with the flat tungsten oxide layers on micromachined gas sensors.

This thesis describes novel microel ectromechanical system (MEMS) based electrochemical gas sensors and methods of fabrication. This thesis presents the research in two parts. In the first part, a method to handle a thin silicon wafer using an electrochemically active adhesive is described. Handling of a thin silicon wafer is an important issue in 3D-IC manufacturing where through silicon vias (TSVs) is an enabling technology. Thin silicon wafers are flexible and fragile, therefore difficult to handle. In addressing the need for a reliable solution, a method based on an electrochemically active adhesive was developed. In this method, an electrochemically active adhesive was diluted and spin coated on a 100 mm diameter silicon wafer (carrier wafer) on which another silicon wafer (device wafer) was bonded. Device wafer was subjected to post processing fabrication technique such as wafer thinning. Successful debonding of the device wafer was achieved by applying a voltage between the two wafers. In another part of the research, a fabrication process for developing a functional nanoporous material using atomic layer deposition is presented. In order to realize a nanoporous electrode, a nanoporous anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) substrate was used, which was functionalized with very thin layers (~ 10 nm) of platinum (Pt) and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) using atomic layer deposition. Nanoporous material when used as an electrode delivers high sensitivity due to the inherent high surface area and is potentially applicable in fuel cells and in electrochemical sensing. The second part of the thesis addresses the need for a high performance gas sensor that is applicable for asthma monitoring. Asthma is a disease related to the inflammation in the airways of the lungs and is characterized by the presence of nitric oxide gas in the exhaled breath. The gas concentration of above approximately 50 parts-per-billion indicates a likely presence of asthma. A MEMS based electrochemical gas sensor was successfully designed and developed to meet the stringent requirements needed for asthma detection. Furthermore, to enable a hand held asthma measuring instrument, a miniaturized sensor with integrated electrodes and liquid electrolyte was developed. The electrodes were assembled at a wafer-level to demonstrate the feasibility towards a high volume fabrication of the gas sensors. In addition, the designed amperometric gas sensor was successfully tested for hydrogen sulphide concentration, which is a bio marker for bad breath. / <p>QC 20150907</p>