Low-cost self-cleaning room temperature SnO2 thin film gas sensor on polymer nanostructures

We have successfully fabricated SnO2 thin film CO gas sensors on nanospiked polyurethane (PU) polymer surfaces that are replicated with a low-cost soft nanolithography method from nanospiked silicon surfaces formed with femtosecond laser irradiations. The sensors show sensitive responses to the CO gas at room temperature because of the sharp structures of the nanospikes. This is much different from the sensors of SnO2 thin film coated on smooth surfaces that show no response to the CO gas at room temperature. To make the nanostructure sensor surface behave self-cleaning like lotus leaves, we deposited a silane monolayer on the surface of the sensors with the 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyltrichlorosilane (PFOTS) which has low surface energy. The contact angle measurement conducted on the PFOTS monolayer-coated SnO2 gas sensors indicates that a super-hydrophobic surface formed on the nanospike sensor. The CO gas response sensitivity of the PFOTS-coated SnO2 sensors is almost the same to that of the as-fabricated SnO2 sensors without the PFOTS coating. Such a super-hydrophobic surface can protect the sensors exposed to moisture and heavy particulates, and can perform cleaning-in-place operations to prolong the lifetime of the sensors. These results show a great potential to fabricate thousands of identical gas sensors at low cost.