Advanced microstructure, morphology and CO gas sensor properties of Cu/Ni bilayers at nanoscale

Atefeh Ghaderi; Azizollah Shafiekhani; Shahram Solaymani; Ştefan Ţălu; Henrique Duarte da Fonseca Filho; Nilson S Ferreira; Robert Saraiva Matos; Hadi Zahrabi; Laya Dejam

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-16347-4

Advanced microstructure, morphology and CO gas sensor properties of Cu/Ni bilayers at nanoscale

Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 14;12(1):12002. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-16347-4.

Authors

Atefeh Ghaderi¹, Azizollah Shafiekhani², Shahram Solaymani³, Ştefan Ţălu⁴, Henrique Duarte da Fonseca Filho⁵, Nilson S Ferreira⁶, Robert Saraiva Matos^{7

8}, Hadi Zahrabi³, Laya Dejam⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, Faculty of Physics and Chemistry, Alzahra University, Tehran, 1993891167, Iran. a.ghaderi@alzahra.ac.ir.
² Department of Physics, Faculty of Physics and Chemistry, Alzahra University, Tehran, 1993891167, Iran. a.shafie@alzahra.ac.ir.
³ Department of Physics, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran.
⁴ The Directorate of Research, Development and Innovation Management (DMCDI), Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Constantin Daicoviciu St., No. 15, 400020, Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, Romania.
⁵ Laboratory of Synthesis of Nanomaterials and Nanoscopy (LSNN), Department of Physics, Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), Manaus, AM, 69067-005, Brazil.
⁶ Department of Physics, Federal University of Sergipe, São Cristovão, Sergipe, Brazil.
⁷ Amazonian Materials Group, Federal University of Amapá (UNIFAP), Macapá, AP, Brazil.
⁸ Postgraduate Program in Materials Science and Engineering, Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), São Cristóvão, SE, Brazil.
⁹ Department of Physics, West Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the morphology of synthesized Cu/Ni nanoparticles in trace of carbon sources by the co-deposition process of RF sputtering and RF-PECVD methods and localized surface plasmon resonance of CO gas sensing of Cu/Ni nanoparticles. The surface morphology was studied by analyzing 3D micrographs of atomic force microscopy using image processing techniques and fractal/multifractal analyses. The MountainsMap® Premium software with the two-way ANOVA (Variance analysis) and least-significant differences tests were used for statistical analysis. The surface nano-patterns have a local and global particular distribution. Experimental and simulated Rutherford backscattering spectra confirm the quality of nanoparticles. Then, prepared samples were exposed to CO gas flue to study their gas sensor application using the localized surface plasmon resonance method. Increasing the Ni layer over Cu one shows an interesting result in both morphology and gas sensing sides. Advanced stereometric analyses for the surface topography of thin films in conjunction with Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and Spectroscopic analysis make a unique study in the field.