Porous nickel oxide film sensor for formaldehyde

Abstract

Formaldehyde is a volatile organic compound and a harmful indoor pollutant contributing to the «sick building syndrome». We used advanced gas deposition to fabricate highly porous nickel oxide (NiO) thin films for formaldehyde sensing. The films were deposited on Al2O3 substrates with prefabricated comb-structured electrodes and a resistive heater at the opposite face. The morphology and structure of the films were investigated with scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Porosity was determined by nitrogen adsorption isotherms with the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method. Gas sensing measurements were performed to demonstrate the resistive response of the sensors with respect to different concentrations of formaldehyde at 150 °C.