Synthesis and gas-sensing characteristics of NiO nanowires

CuO is a p-type oxide semiconductor with a band-gap of about 1.4 eV [1?3]. Better design of new materials and also innovative approaches in structure and architecture of devices have been attempted in order to realize highly sensitive and selective gas sensors. The 1D nanostructures provide a very large surface area which can interact with gas molecules. Ways investigated for enhancing sensing performance of semiconductor devices involve doping the sensing materials [4], decorating their surface with metallic catalysts [5], treating their surface with plasma [6], ion [7], or electron beams [16] and reducing their dimensions [8]. Electrospinning is an effective, fast and efficient method to synthesize continuous nanofibers of polymers, ceramics and metal oxides.