Customizing Wettability of Defect-Rich CeO₂/TiO₂ Nanotube Arrays for Humidity-Resistant, Ultrafast, and Sensitive...

In all their applications, gas sensors should satisfy several requirements, including low cost, reduced energy consumption, fast response/recovery, high sensitivity, and reliability in a broad humidity range. Unfortunately, the fast response/recovery and sensing reliability under high humidity conditions are often still missing, especially those working at room temperature. In this study, a humidity-resistant gas sensor with an ultrafast response/recovery rate was designed by integrating a defect-rich semiconducting sensing interface and a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) with controllable wettability. As a proof-of-concept application, ammonia (NH₃), one of the atmospheric and indoor pollutants, was selected as the target gas. The decoration of interconnected defective CeO₂ nanowires on spaced TiO₂ nanotube arrays (NTAs) provided superior NH₃ sensing performances. Moreover, we showed that manipulating the functional end group of SAMs is an efficient and simple method to adjust the wettability, by which 86% sensitivity retention with an ultrafast response (within 5 s) and a low limit of detection (45 ppb) were achieved even at 75% relative humidity and room temperature. This work provides a new route toward the comprehensive design and application of metal oxide semiconductors for trace gas monitoring under harsh conditions, such as those of agricultural, environmental, and industrial fields.