Fabrication of an acetone gas sensor based on Si-doped WO3 nanorods prepared by reactive magnetron co-sputtering with OAD technique

Abstract Gas sensing technology is currently applied in a variety of applications. In medical applications, gas sensors can be used for the detection of the biomarker in various diseases, metabolic disorders, diabetes mellitus, asthma, renal, liver diseases, and lung cancer. In this study, we present acetone sensing characteristics of Si-doped WO 3 nanorods prepared by a DC reactive magnetron co-sputtering with an oblique-angle deposition (OAD) technique. The composition of Si-doped in WO 3 has been studied by varying the electrical input power applied to the Si sputtered target. The nanorods film was constructed at the glancing angle of 85°. After deposition, the films were annealed at 400 °C for 4 h in the air. The microstructures and phases of the materials were characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The results showed that 1.43 wt% Si-doped WO 3 thin film exhibited the maximum response of 5.92 towards 100 ppm of acetone at performing temperature (350 °C), purifying dry air carrier. The process exposed in this work demonstrated the potential of high sensitivity acetone gas sensor at low concentration and may be used as an effective tool for diabetes non-invasive monitoring.