MESOPOROUS CARBON POWDER GAS SENSORS FOR DETECTION OF CARBON MONOXIDE

Abstract

This article reports a new class of silicon-based microgas sensors utilizing hexagonally-ordered mesoporous carbon powders (MCPs) as the sensitive film. The mesoporous carbon powders featuring high-specific surface area are replicated by the SBA-15 silica template and immobilized between Cr electrodes on a 9 x 9 cm silicon chip by using a. c. dielectrophoresis (DEP) process at room temperature. The silicon sensor platform comprises Cr microheaters embedded in a dielectric thin membrane manufactured by microelectromechanical systems back-etching techniques. It is shown that MCPs can be satisfactorily aligned along electric fields and accumulated to the electrode area. Investigations into CO detection are carried out to verify gas-sensitive characteristics of the MCP nanofilm. Our experimental results disclose the mesoporous carbon powders are successfully chemoresistive to CO, and demonstrate distinct resistance change with respect to ppm-level variation. In addition, response time, recovery time, and reproducible sensing behavior are experimentally obtained.