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High Surface Area to Volume Ratio 3D Nanoporous Nb2O5 for Enhanced Humidity Sensing

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Abstract

Sensors based on metal oxide platforms offer ease of device fabrication and simple sensing operation. As a metal oxide platform, highly nanoporous niobium oxide (Nb2O5) films consisting of unique three-dimensional vein-like structures can be efficiently used for developing humidity sensors. In this work, nanoporous Nb2O5 films (with different thicknesses of ∼ 1 μm, ∼ 2 μm, and ∼ 4 μm) were prepared by anodization of niobium foil for 30 min, 60 min, and 120 min. Electron, x-ray, atomic, and vibrational microscopies and spectroscopies were used for characterizing the morphological and structural properties of the Nb2O5 films. The analysis revealed that the nanoporous Nb2O5 exhibited hierarchical vein-like structures with orthorhombic crystalline orientation, and their surface roughness showed a proportional increase with the anodization duration. Metal–semiconductor–metal humidity sensors based on nanoporous Nb2O5 with platinum electrodes were tested in a humidity chamber under conditions of 40% to 90% relative humidity (RH) and different bias voltages. According to the obtained results, the ∼ 4-μm-thick nanoporous Nb2O5 presented the highest relative sensitivity of 216.5 under a bias voltage of 5 V, taking advantage of its extremely porous structure. These sensors provide high surface area to volume ratio, leading to highly effective affinity and interactions between surface-active sites and water molecules.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme [FRGS; Project Code: 600-IRMI/FRGS 5/3 (081/2017)]. Special thanks go to the Research Chair for Biomedical Applications of Nanomaterials, Department of Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

    Rozina Abdul Rani

  2. NANO-SciTech Centre, Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

    Rozina Abdul Rani & Mohamad Rusop Mahmood

  3. NANO-ElecTronic Centre, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

    Ahmad Sabirin Zoolfakar, Mohamad Fauzee Mohamad Ryeeshyam, Ahmad Syakirin Ismail, Mohamad Hafiz Mamat & Mohamad Rusop Mahmood

  4. Research Chair for Biomedical Applications of Nanomaterials, Department of Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia

    Salman Alrokayan & Haseeb Khan

  5. School of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh

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  1. Rozina Abdul Rani
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Correspondence to Rozina Abdul Rani, Ahmad Sabirin Zoolfakar or Mohamad Rusop Mahmood.

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Abdul Rani, R., Zoolfakar, A.S., Mohamad Ryeeshyam, M.F. et al. High Surface Area to Volume Ratio 3D Nanoporous Nb2O5 for Enhanced Humidity Sensing. J. Electron. Mater. 48, 3805–3815 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-019-07126-5

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