Fabrication of 1D Metal Oxide Nanostructures Using Glancing Angle Deposition for High Performance Gas Sensors

Gas sensors based on metal-oxide-semiconductors are predominantly used in numerous applications including monitoring indoor air quality and detecting harmful substances such as volatile organic compounds. Nanostructures, e.g., nanoparticles, nanotubes, nano-domes, or nanofibers, have been widely utilized to improve the gas sensing properties of metal-oxide-semiconductors by increasing the effective surface area participating in the surface reaction with target gas molecules. Recently, 1-dimensional (1D) metal oxide nano-structures fabricated using glancing angle deposition (GAD) method with e-beam evaporation have been widely employed to increase the surface-to-volume ratio significantly with large-area uniformity and reproducibility, leading to promising gas sensing properties. Herein, we provide a brief overview of 1D metal oxide nanostructures fabricated using GAD and their gas sensing properties in terms of fabrication methods, morphologies, and additives. Moreover, the gas sensing mechanisms and perspectives are presented.