Gas detection experiments were performed with individual tin dioxide (SnO2) nanowires specifically configured to observe surface ion (SI) emission response towards representative analyte species. These devices were found to work at much lower temperatures (T≈280 °C) and bias voltages (V≈2 V) than their micro-counterparts, thereby demonstrating the inherent potential of individual nanostructures in building functional nanodevices. High selectivity of our miniaturized sensors emerges from the dissimilar sensing mechanisms of those typical of standard resistive-type sensors (RES). Therefore, by employing this detection principle (SI) together with RES measurements, better selectivity than that observed in standard metal oxide sensors could be demonstrated. Simplicity and specificity of the gas detection as well as low-power consumption make these single nanowire devices promising technological alternatives to overcome the major drawbacks of solid-state sensor technologies.

Surface ionization (SI) gas detection experiments have been performed on platinum (Pt) and metal oxide (MOX) films. The probability of surface ion emission varies with temperature in an Arrhenius-type manner. Among all hydrocarbons studied so far those with amine functional groups exhibited the lowest activation energies allowing detection in the ppm concentration range at emitter operation temperatures of about 400 C. All other kinds of hydrocarbons could not be detected under these same conditions, not even if their concentrations were as high as 1% or 2%. Under high-temperature conditions ( 800 C), this kind of selectivity breaks down and solid-state SI emitters start to behave in a similar way as flame ionization detectors, allowing detection of a much wider range of hydrocarbon species. Emitter materials with surface morphologies in the nanometer range were found to form much more efficient ion emitters than emitters with smooth surfaces.Index Terms-Charge transfer process, functional hydrocarbons, gas sensing mechanism, proton affinity, surface ionization (SI).

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The detection of military high explosives and illicit drugs presents problems of paramount importance in the fields of counter terrorism and criminal investigation. Effectively dealing with such threats requires hand-portable, mobile and affordable instruments. The paper shows that solid-state gas sensors can contribute to the development of such instruments provided the sensors are incorporated into integrated sensor systems, which acquire the target substances in the form of particle residue from suspect objects and which process the collected residue through a sequence of particle sampling, solid-vapor conversion, vapor detection and signal treatment steps. Considering sensor systems with metal oxide gas sensors at the backend, it is demonstrated that significant gains in sensitivity, selectivity and speed of response can be attained when the threat substances are sampled in particle as opposed to vapor form.

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