Original Article |
2012, Vol.34, No.6, pp. 695-699
Effect of structure and morphology of carbon nanotubes on NO2 gas sensing
Worawut Muangrat, Eakgapon Gallnom, Chaisak Issro, Wolfgang Pfeiler, and Veronique Pierron-Bohnes
pp. 695 - 699
Abstract
In this research, we investigated the effect of structure and morphology of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on nitrogen dioxide (NO2 ) gas sensing. CNTs were synthesized by thermal chemical vapor deposition (TCVD) at different synthesis temperatures. The structure and morphology of CNTs were investigated by various characterization tools such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy. The resistance changes of CNTs were obtained upon NO2 gas exposure with concentrations of 600, 1,800 and 3,000 ppm at room temperature. Our results show that the CNTs prepared at 950°C showed the highest response. We suggest that the response of CNTs to NO2 gas depends more strongly on the interstitial area and electronic structure than on the defects of CNTs. These results are in good agreement with the theoretical calculations on adsorption sites (surface, pore, groove and interstitial) and electronic structure (metallic or semiconducting) reported by previous studies.