Enhanced NO2 Gas Sensing Properties of WO3-Coated Multiwall Carbon Nanotube Sensors.

WO3-coated multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were fabricated by sputter-deposition of WO3 on MWCNT paste. The outer diameters of WO3-coated MWCNTs ranged from 20 to 40 nm and the lengths ranged up to a few tens of micrometers. The low-magnification TEM image of a typical WO3-coated CNT showed a CNT with an inner diameter of ~20 nm and a tube wall thickness of ~7 nm and WO3 shells with a thickness up to 10 nm at both edges of the tube. The WO3 shells were very nonuniform in thickness not only along the axis of the nanotube but also from one nanotube to the other. The sensing properties of multiple networked WO3-coated CNT sensors toward NO2 gas were examined. The WO3-coated MWCNT sensors showed responses of 120-221% over an NO2 concentration range of 1 to 5 ppm at room temperature. The responses were 1-2 fold higher than those of the pristine MWCNT sensor over the same NO2 concentration range. The origin of the enhancement of the MWCNTs in the response to NO2 by coating them with WO3 is discussed.