Fabrication and Computational Study of a Chemiresistive NO2 Gas Sensor Based on the Carbon Dots-WO3 Heterostructure for Operating below Room Temperature

For a long time, chemiresistive gas sensors based on metal oxide semiconductors (MOSs) suffer from higher operating temperatures, resulting in higher energy consumption and instability of the sensors. Generally, a MOS-based chemiresistive gas sensor being able to work at room temperature is considered to be outstanding already. Here, a highly sensitive NO 2 gas sensor based on the carbon dots-WO 3 heterostructure, which can work below room temperature at – 6 °C, is fabricated. At 18, – 1, and – 6 °C, its detection limits are 200 ppb, 5 ppm, and 20 ppm, respectively, and the corresponding response values ( R a / R g ) are 1.11, 1.04, and 1.13, respectively. The sensor exhibits good selectivity, stability, and linearity between relative humidity and response values too. A peculiar response behavior was observed. Toward oxidizing gas NO 2, the resistance of the sensor based mainly on n-type WO 3 shows decrease behavior. Its peculiar response behavior and strong gas sensing ability at lower temperatures were elucidated theoretically using the results of first-principles calculations. The reduction of NO 2 into NO by surface oxygen vacancies of WO 3 and the following adsorption of NO on the surface of WO 3 lead to electron transfer from NO to WO 3, and the Fermi level shifts toward the conduction band, making the sensor exhibit the peculiar response behavior. The stronger adsorption capability of carbon dots toward NO 2 and a synergistic effect of carbon dots and WO 3 together make the sensor capable of working at lower temperatures and own higher sensitivity.