Tags: undergraduate, IEEE, electron device letters, SnO2/ZnO nanosheet arrays, core-shellnanostructures, atomic layer deposition, ethanol sensors, electrical, electronic engineering

Recently, Gong Huimin from Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering successfully published a paper as the first author on the world-class academic journal in microelectronic devices — IEEE Electron Device Letters. The title of her paper is “On-Chip Growth of SnO2/ZnO Core-ShellNanosheet Arrays for Ethanol Detection”, whose impact factor is currently 3.048.

As representativen-type oxides, SnO2 and ZnO have been widely used fordetection of various gases. However, as a practical matter, thereare still some drawbacks for each pure oxide, such as lowsensitivity, poor selectivity,and reliability. In this letter, Gong and her co-authors report a two-step process for thecontrollable synthesis of SnO2/ZnO core-shell NSAs on asilicon substrate. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique isadopted to deposit ZnO shell on the SnO2 NSAs. A thin layer ofZnO shell in SnO2/ZnO NSAs has been identified to enhancethe sensor performance to ethanol vapor. Ahomogeneous precipitation method has been used tosynthesize SnO2 NSAs, following by atomic layer deposition of ZnO. The SnO2/ZnO core-shell NSAs based sensorexhibits significantly enhanced ethanol sensing response(13.3 at 100 ppm) and selectivity at 350 °C, as comparedwith the pure SnO2 NSAs (2.7 at 100 ppm). Theimprovement of sensor performance can be ascribed to theSnO2/ZnO heterostructures formed in the core-shell NSAs,which suggests the promising application for MEMScompatible ethanol sensors.

The abovementioned case illustrates that undergraduate education at SUSTech highly values students’ research ability and innovation capacity. Gong Huimin began her laboratory work in her third year and engaged in research on gas sensors under the guidance of Associate Professor Wang Fei and Research Group Postdoctoral Scholar Zhao Changhui. During her undergraduate study, Gong Huimin has also successfully applied a research project supported by SUSTech’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program, and she will continue her graduate studies in SUSTech.

Research work on Gong’s paper also received funds from National Natural Science Foundation of China, Guangdong Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, and Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission.

Original Chinese version by Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Translated by Fan Yining

Proofread by Chris Edwards