Gas Sensors Based on Metal Sulfide Zn1–xCdxS Nanowires with Excellent Performance

Metal sulfide Zn1–xCdxS nanowires (NWs) covering the entire compositional range prepared by one step solvothermal method were used to fabricate gas sensors. This is the first time for ternary metal sulfide nanostructures to be used in the field of gas sensing. Surprisingly, the sensors based on Zn1–xCdxS nanowires were found to exhibit enhanced response to ethanol compared to those of binary CdS and ZnS NWs. Especially for the sensor based on the Zn1–xCdxS (x = 0.4) NWs, a large sensor response (s = 12.8) and a quick rise time (2 s) and recovery time (1 s) were observed at 206 °C toward 20 ppm ethanol, showing preferred selectivity. A dynamic equilibrium mechanism of oxygen molecules absorption process and carrier intensity change in the NWs was used to explain the higher response of Zn1–xCdxS. The reason for the much quicker response and recovery speed of the Zn1–xCdxS NWs than those of the binary ZnS NWs was also discussed. These results demonstrated that the growth of metal sulfide Zn1–xCdxS nanostructures can be utilized to develop gas sensors with high performance.