Adhitya Gandaryus Saputro
Detection of volatile organic compound (VOC) gases plays a major role in application which involves air quality assessment. It calls for the availability of advanced sensor with good sensitivity and selectivity. These requirements can only be met through the use of right type of sensing materials. Among range of materials suitable for sensing purposes, semiconductor oxide is one of the most popular ones, especially the one with wide band-gap such as Zinc Oxide (ZnO). Unfortunately, despite its promise as candidate for sensor material, the way to tune its selectivity toward specific sensing conditions is still a major problem. For this proposed research, we plan to study about the selectivity of ZnO surface towards VOC gases, such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene (BTEX) which are known as hazardous air pollutants. The detail sensing mechanism of BTEX gases on ZnO surface is still unknown until now. Understanding the fundamental sensing mechanism is very important in order to gain control the selectivity and sensitivity of a sensing material. The results from this study can be used to engineer the ZnO-based sensing material so that it can have good selectivity and sensitivity towards VOC gases.