Low ppm NO₂ detection through advanced ultrasensitive copper oxide gas sensor

The imperative development of a cutting-edge environmental gas sensor is essential to proficiently monitor and detect hazardous gases, ensuring comprehensive safety and awareness. Nanostructures developed from metal oxides are emerging as promising candidates for achieving superior performance in gas sensors. NO₂ is one of the toxic gases that affects people as well as the environment so its detection is crucial. The present study investigates the gas sensing capability of copper oxide-based sensor for 5 ppm of NO₂ gas at 100 °C. The sensing material was synthesized using a facile precipitation method and characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, UV-visible spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, XPS and BET techniques. The developed material shows a response equal to 67.1% at optimal temperature towards 5 ppm NO₂ gas. The sensor demonstrated an impressive detection limit of 300 ppb, along with a commendable percentage response of 5.2%. Under optimized conditions, the synthesized material demonstrated its high selectivity, as evidenced by the highest percentage response recorded for NO₂ gas among NO₂, NH₃, CO, CO₂ and H₂S.