A novel design and fabrication of self-heated In2O3 nanowire gas sensor on glass for ethanol detection

Many attempts have been made on the design and fabrication of low-power consumption gas sensor for application on the Internet of Things and portable devices. The performance of gas sensors includes sensitivity, selectivity, and power consumption, which are strongly dependent on the configuration of the device such as the gap size between two electrodes, the sensing material, and operation principle. Here, self-heated In2O3 nanowire-based gas sensors were designed and fabricated by on-chip growth technique via thermal evaporation to work at room temperature. The effect of electrode gap (10–40 µm) on the power consumption and gas sensing performance of the In2O3 nanowire sensors was studied. With the large gap of 40 µm, the sensor exhibited excellent sensing characteristics of low power consumption (1.06 mW) with ability to detect ethanol gas down to 20 ppm effectively. We also examined the role of nanowire conductivity in the performance of the self-heated sensor in the detection of reducing gas. The sensor demonstrated rapid response and recovery times of less than a minute, exceptional stability, and remarkable recovery. Novel design and fabrication of localized self-heated In2O3 nanowire enables the detection of ethanol with exceptional stability, and remarkable recovery [Display omitted] •In2O3 nanowires were grown by on-chip technique for gas sensors.•Effects of electrode gaps on the sensing performance were studied.•Electrode gap of 40 µm exhibited excellent sensing characteristics.•At a power of 1.606 mW, the sensor could detect ethanol concentration down to ppb level.•The localized heating mode was used to explain the sensing characteristics.