Ionic-activated semiconducting gas sensors operated by piezoelectric generators at room temperature

Abstract

Semiconducting gas sensors that operated at room-temperature (around 25 degrees C) have been studied to monitor target gases. Furthermore, a self-powered gas sensor with no reliance on a battery or external power source was highly demanded to effectively reduce the power consumption and apply for practical environments. In this study, we designed the self-powered gas sensors by connecting ionic-activated semiconducting sensors, a promising candidate for room-temperature operation, with an oval-shaped piezoelectric generator, and light-emitting diode alarm. The effect of the divided voltage from the energy generator to the sensor on the sensing performance was analyzed. The self-powered sensor has an extremely low detection limit (4.32 ppb NO2) with rapid and constant recovery (6 s) regardless of the NO2 concentration. Additionally, the practical applicability was confirmed by the light-emitting diode alarms according to the NO2 concentration in the atmosphere.