• Clean Technology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.249-254
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• 2018

In order to improve the photo conversion efficiency (${\eta}$) of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), the electrospun $TiO_2$, $SiO_2$, $ZrO_2$ and $SnO_2$ nanofibers were added into the hydrothermally prepared $TiO_2$ nanoparticles for application to a photoelectrode for DSSCs. The $TiO_2$ nanofiber added photoelectrode exhibited a higher photo current density ($J_{sc}$) compared to the bare $TiO_2$ nanoparticles, which is caused from acceleration of the transfer of excited electron from dye molecule due to the nanofiber structure. The DSSCs with $SiO_2$ nanofibers shows a higher open circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$) of 0.67 V and the highest photo conversion efficiency was found to be 6.24%.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.271-274
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• 2016

The reliability and reproducibility of gas sensors are very important for real applications. The influence of nanofiber length and sensing film thickness on the reliability and response of gas sensing characteristics was investigated. For this, the length of $SnO_2$ nanofibers was controlled by tuning ultrasonic treatment and the different thicknesses of sensing films were prepared by manipulating the amount of slurry deposition. The sensor prepared from long nanofibers (length: ${\sim}3.6{\mu}m$) showed the significant fluctuation of gas sensing characteristics when the film becomes thinner than $18{\mu}m$, while that prepared from short nanofibers (length: ${\sim}0.9{\mu}m$) showed reproducible sensor response and resistance regardless of film thickness. Moreover, the shortening of nanofibers enhanced the gas response ~2 times, which can be explained by the increase of chemiresistive fiber-to-fiber contacts. The reproducibility, gas response, and selectivity of $SnO_2$ nanofiber gas sensor could be controlled by tuning nanofiber length, film thickness, and catalyst loading.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.741-750
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• 2016

Nanofibers(NFs), because of their high surface area and nanosized grains, have appropriate morphologies for use in chemiresistive-type sensors for gas detection applications. In this study, a highly sensitive and selective CO gas sensing material based on Au-decorated $SnO_2$ NFs was fabricated by electrospinning. $SnO_2$ NFs were synthesized by electrospinning and subsequently decorated with various amounts of Au nanoparticles(NPs) by sputtering; this was followed by thermal annealing. Different characterizations showed the successful formation of Au-decorated $SnO_2$ NFs. Gas sensing tests were performed on the fabricated sensors, which showed bell-shaped sensing behavior with respect to the amount of Au decoration. The best CO sensing performance, with a response of ~20 for 10 ppm CO, was obtained at an optimized amount of Au (2.6 at.%). The interplay between Au and $SnO_2$ in terms of the electronic and chemical sensitization by Au NPs is responsible for the great improvement in the CO sensing capability of pure $SnO_2$ NFs, suggesting that Au-decorated $SnO_2$ NFs can be a promising material for fabricating highly sensitive and selective chemiresistive-type CO gas sensors.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.211-215
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• 2014

The Pt-, Ni- and Cr-decorated tubular $SnO_2$ nanofibers for gas sensors were prepared by the electrospinning of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) nanofibers containing Pt, Ni, and Cr precursors, the sputtering of $SnO_2$ on the electrospun PVP nanofibers, and the removal of sacrificial PVP parts by heat treatment at $600^{\circ}C$ for 2 h. Pt-decorated tubular $SnO_2$ nanofibers showed high response ($R_a/R_g=210.5$, $R_g$: resistance in gas, $R_a$: resistance in air) to 5 ppm $C_2H_5OH$ at $350^{\circ}C$ with negligible cross-responses to other interference gases (5 ppm trimethylamine, $NH_3$, HCHO, p-xylene, toluene and benzene). Cr-decorated tubular $SnO_2$nanofibers showed the selective detection of p-xylene at $400^{\circ}C$. In contrast, no significant selectivity to a specific gas was found in Ni-decorated tubular $SnO_2$ nanofibers. The selective and sensitive detection of gases using Pt-decorated and Cr-decorated tubular $SnO_2$ nanofibers were discussed in relation to the catalytic promotion of gas sensing reaction.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.43-47
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• 2018

Carbon nanofibers (CNF) are widely used as active agents for electrodes in Li-ion secondary battery cells, supercapacitors, and fuel cells. Nanoscale coatings on CNF electrodes can increase the output and lifespan of battery devices. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) can control the coating thickness at the nanoscale regardless of the shape, suitable for coating CNFs. However, because the CNF surface comprises stable C-C bonds, initiating homogeneous nuclear formation is difficult because of the lack of initial nucleation sites. This study introduces uniform nucleation site formation on CNF surfaces to promote a uniform $SnO_2$ layer. We pretreat the CNF surface by introducing $H_2O$ or $Al_2O_3$ (trimethylaluminum + $H_2O$) before the $SnO_2$ ALD process to form active sites on the CNF surface. Transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy both identify the $SnO_2$ layer morphology on the CNF. The $Al_2O_3$-pretreated sample shows a uniform $SnO_2$ layer, while island-type $SnO_x$ layers grow sparsely on the $H_2O$-pretreated or untreated CNF.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.636-641
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• 2009

ZnO nanofibers were electro-spun from a solution containing poly 4-vinyl phenol and Zn acetate dihydrate. The calcination process of the ZnO/PVP composite nanofibers brought forth a random network of polycrystalline wurtzite ZnO nanofibers of 30 nm to 70 nm in diameter. The electrical properties of the ZnO nanofibers were governed by the grain boundaries. To investigate possible applications of the ZnO nanofibers, their CO and $NO_2$ gas sensing responses are demonstrated. In particular, the $SnO_2$-deposited ZnO nanofibers exhibit a remarkable gas sensing response to $NO_2$ gas as low as 400 ppb. Oxide nanofibers emerge as a new proposition for oxide-based gas sensors.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.289-295
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• 2017

Detection of $CO_2$ gas in both indoor and outdoor atmospheres is now becoming an important issue because of greenhouse effect and climate crisis. In this study, gas sensors based on $SnO_2-Cr_2O_3$ composite nanofibers were fabricated by the electrospinning method to detect $CO_2$ gas. The gas sensors showed a response to ppm level of $CO_2$ gas from room temperature to $200^{\circ}C$ while the highest response was observed at $150^{\circ}C$. The gas response is enhanced by the catalytic property of $Cr_2O_3$. Selective $CO_2$ detection is obtained through the chemical reaction of $Cr_2O_3$ to chromium carbonate. All the results suggest the $SnO_2-Cr_2O_3$ composite material is promising for the use of $CO_2$ gas sensors.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.281-288
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• 2008

Polyacrylonitrile(PAN)/metal oxide(MO) nanocomposite mats with a thickness of 0.12 mm were electrospun by adding 0 to 10 wt% of MO nanoparticles ($Fe_2O_3$, ZnO, $SnO_2$, $Sb_2O_3-SnO_2$) into PAN. Pt electrode was patterned on $Al_2O_3$ substrate by DC sputtering and then the PAN(/MO) mats on the Pt patterned $Al_2O_3$ were electrically wired to investigate the $CO_2$ gas sensing properties. As the MO content rose, the fiber diameter decreased due to the presence of lumps caused by the presence of MOs in the fiber. The PAN/2% ZnO mat revealed a faster response time of 93 s and a relatively short recovery of 54 s with a ${\Delta}R$ of 0.031 M${\Omega}$ at a $CO_2$ concentration of 200 ppm. The difference in sensitivity was not observed significantly for the PAN/MO fiber mats in the $CO_2$ concentration range of 100 to 500 ppm. It can be concluded that an appropriate amount of MO nanoparticles in the PAN backbone leads to improvement of the $CO_2$ gas sensing properties.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.371.2-371.2
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• 2014

가스 센서분야에서 특정 가스종에 대한 선택성과 감응도 향상을 위해 금속 촉매 등을 센서 물질 표면이나 내부 등에 형성시키는 방안이 많이 연구되고 있다. 1차원 구조 반도성 물질인 나노섬유 내에 금속 촉매를 형성시켜 특정 가스에 대한 선택성과 감응도를 향상시키는 연구가 보고된 바 있다. 선행연구에 의하면 Au와 Pt입자가 형성된 나노섬유의 경우, 각각 CO와 toluene가스에 대하여 선택적인 감응을 나타내는 것으로 확인되었다. 본 연구에서는 전기방사법과 광환원법을 동시에 이용하여 Au와 Pt 입자가 포함된 $SnO_2$ 나노섬유를 합성하고, 이들 나노섬유의 가스감응 특성을 연구하였다.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.245-248
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• 2017

The Cu and CuSn/PVP nanofibers were fabricated by electrospinning method by controlling various parameters. The precursor solution was prepared with copper(II) acetate monohydrate ($Cu(CH_3COO)_2$) and tin chloride dihydrate ($SnCl_2{\cdot}2H_2O$), and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) for adjusting viscosity. The fabricated nanofibers were calcined at 873 K in Ar atmospheric environment for 5 hours to remove the solvent and polymer. The morphology and diameter of nanofibers were measured by optical microscopy (OM) with Motic image plus 2.0 program. The components and chemical environment were investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). From the XPS survey spectra, we confirmed that CuSn/PVP nanofibers were successfully fabricated. The XPS peaks of C 1s and N 1s were remarkably decreased after calcination of the nanofibers at 873 K. It implies that the PVP was completely decomposed after calcination at 873 K.