Abstract
Silicon nanowires (SINWs)- polyaniline (PANI) heterostructure has been fabricated for ammonia (NH3) gas detection at room temperature. SINWs are prepared adopting silver assisted electrochemical etching technique and the heterostructure is fabricated by heating the SINWs in the presence of aniline monomer followed by the addition of the oxidizing agent (ammonium per sulphate) required for the polymerization of aniline. Morphology shows the formation of heterostructure with proper adhesion of PANI on SINWs surface and energy dispersive X-rays (EDX) shows major constituents of PANI as carbon (28.79% atomicity) and nitrogen (4.30% atomicity). Raman spectra complement field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) results by showing the vibrational peaks due to the presence of PANI over SINWs surface. The heterostructure is tested for sensing of different gases viz. acetone, chloroform, ethanol and ammonia. It shows the best selectivity towards ammonia, compared to other gases, with sensitivity up to 159% for 100 ppm concentration of NH3. Experimental results dictate fair response and recovery times for ammonia detection. So, one can say that SINWs- PANI structure has substantial potential for ammonia detection.
Published Version
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