%0 Journal Article
%T A Surface Acoustic Wave Ethanol Sensor with Zinc Oxide Nanorods
%A Timothy J. Giffney
%A Y. H. Ng
%A K. C. Aw
%J Smart Materials Research
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/210748
%X Surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors are a class of piezoelectric MEMS sensors which can achieve high sensitivity and excellent robustness. A surface acoustic wave ethanol sensor using ZnO nanorods has been developed and tested. Vertically oriented ZnO nanorods were produced on a ZnO/128¡ã rotated Y-cut LiNbO3 layered SAW device using a solution growth method with zinc nitrate, hexamethylenetriamine, and polyethyleneimine. The nanorods have average diameter of 45£¿nm and height of 1£¿¦Ìm. The SAW device has a wavelength of 60£¿um and a center frequency of 66£¿MHz at room temperature. In testing at an operating temperature of 270 with an ethanol concentration of 2300£¿ppm, the sensor exhibited a 24£¿KHz frequency shift. This represents a significant improvement in comparison to an otherwise identical sensor using a ZnO thin film without nanorods, which had a frequency shift of 9£¿KHz. 1. Introduction Sensing of ethanol vapour has important applications in industry and society. At high temperatures (200¡ãC to 300¡ãC) zinc oxide absorbs ethanol vapour, causing a significant change in conductivity [1, 2] and also leading to a change in mass. This change in properties can be used to create an ethanol sensor. Surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors are a class of piezoelectric MEMS sensor which can achieve high sensitivity and excellent robustness. Since their discovery by Rayleigh in 1885 [3] surface acoustic waves have been extensively researched. The energy of a surface acoustic wave is concentrated within several wavelengths of the surface [4, 5]. For this reason, the propagation characteristics of surface acoustic waves are highly sensitive to any change in the properties of the surface on which they travel. Due to the sensitivity of SAW devices to small changes in mass loading and surface conductivity, SAW devices have been extensively studied as gas sensors [6¨C8]. A typical SAW gas sensor uses an interdigital transducer (IDT) to generate a surface acoustic wave in a piezoelectric substrate. The surface acoustic wave propagates along a delay line coated in some material which absorbs the target gas. A second IDT at the end of the delay line is then used to transduce the SAW to an electrical signal. Absorption of gas onto the sensing layer causes a change in the propagation velocity of the surface acoustic wave, resulting in a shift in the resonant frequency of the device. The majority of existing SAW gas sensors have used thin film sensing layers, with limited surface area. The application of nanostructured sensing layers, such as ZnO nanorods can potentially lead to
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/smr/2012/210748/