Nanowatt-Level Photoactivated Gas Sensor Based on Fully-Integrated Visible MicroLED and Plasmonic Nanomaterials

Photoactivated gas sensors that are fully integrated with micro light-emitting diodes (µLED) have shown great potential to substitute conventional micro/nano-electromechanical (M/NEMS) gas sensors owing to their low power consumption, high mechanical stability, and mass-producibility. Previous photoactivated gas sensors mostly have utilized ultra-violet (UV) light (250-400 nm) for activating high-bandgap metal oxides, although energy conversion efficiencies of gallium nitride (GaN) LEDs are maximized in the blue range (430-470 nm). This study presents a more advanced monolithic photoactivated gas sensor based on a nanowatt-level, ultra-low-power blue (λ_peak  = 435 nm) µLED platform (µLP). To promote the blue light absorbance of the sensing material, plasmonic silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) are uniformly coated on porous indium oxide (In₂ O₃ ) thin films. By the plasmonic effect, Ag NPs absorb the blue light and spontaneously transfer excited hot electrons to the surface of In₂ O₃ . Consequently, high external quantum efficiency (EQE, ≈17.3%) and sensor response (ΔR/R₀ (%) = 1319%) to 1 ppm NO₂ gas can be achieved with a small power consumption of 63 nW. Therefore, it is highly expected to realize various practical applications of mobile gas sensors such as personal environmental monitoring devices, smart factories, farms, and home appliances.