Incorporation of Au Nanoparticles on ZnO/ZnS Core Shell Nanostructures for UV Light/Hydrogen Gas Dual Sensing Enhancement

Yu-Sheng Tsai; Deng-Yi Wang; Jia-Jie Chang; Keng-Tien Liang; Ya-Hsuan Lin; Chih-Chen Kuo; Ssu-Han Lu; Yewchung Sermon Wu; Lukas Jyuhn-Hsiarn Lee; Hsiang Chen; Dong-Sing Wuu

doi:10.3390/membranes11110903

Incorporation of Au Nanoparticles on ZnO/ZnS Core Shell Nanostructures for UV Light/Hydrogen Gas Dual Sensing Enhancement

Membranes (Basel). 2021 Nov 22;11(11):903. doi: 10.3390/membranes11110903.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan.
² Department of Applied Materials and Optoelectronic Engineering, College of Science and Technology, National Chi Nan University, Puli 545, Taiwan.
³ National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli 350, Taiwan.
⁴ Stroke Center, Departments of Neurology, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
⁵ Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
⁶ Research Center for Environmental Medicine, Ph.D. Program of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.

Abstract

ZnO/ZnS nanocomposite-based nanostructures exhibit dual light and gas sensing capabilities. To further boost the light/dual sensing properties, gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) were incorporated into the core-shell structures. Multiple material characterizations revealed that Au NPs were successfully well spread and decorated on ZnO/ZnS nanostructures. Furthermore, our findings show that the addition of Au NPs could enhance both 365 nm UV light sensing and hydrogen gas sensing in terms of light/gas sensitivity and light/gas response time. We postulate that the optimization of gas/light dual sensing capability may result from the induced electric field and inhabitation of electron-hole recombination. Owing to their compact size, simple fabrication, and stable response, ZnO/ZnS/Au NPs-based light/gas dual sensors are promising for future extreme environmental monitoring.

Keywords: Au nanoparticle; UV light; ZnO/ZnS core shell; dual sensing; electric field; hydrogen.