Carbon Dioxide Gas Detecting Zinc Oxide Based Thin Film Gas

Sensor

1.Introduction..

1.1. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Effects on Human Health

CO2 is a colorless, nonflammable and odorless gas. It is the final product of respiration,
combustion and fermentation. Normally in the air of room, the percentage of carbon dioxide
is too little to be ignored and it is around 0.04%. Due to its high weight property it deposited
on the ground and immigrates to upper side and replace with the oxygen molecules. Because
of this situation it becomes more important in the closed areas.

The indoor space accidents occurring in water meter pits, tanks, holds of ships, mines,
underground storage bins, and so forth, resulting from oxygen-deficient atmospheres can be
explained by the “confined space hypoxic syndrome” term. [1] Hypoxia occurs when the
sufficient amount of oxygen is not reach the tissue. Because of the insufficient oxygen, the
energy generation is limited in body cells. As a result, lots of complications and problems
happens in the human body cell. [2]

In addition, CO2 plays a toxic role at high concentrations. It causes respiratory standstill and
unconsciousness. [3] The concentration of CO2 is quite important. According to literature
more than %10 CO2 concentration can be reason for coma and death. If the level is higher
than 30 % , person loss his/her consciousness suddenly and it explains the why victims cannot
take action to solve the problems like opening the window. [1]

Mostly affected organ is brain because of the asphyxiant property of CO2. There is observable
effect of the CO2 which around 1000ppm on people’ thinking. At these Co2 level breathing
becomes tougher, focusing and concentration decreases. In sum, it prevents working functions
of the normal body. With the increasing of this level up to 2500 ppm, an important decreasing
happens on the cognitive functions required high level thinking. Tiredness and headaches
follows this circumstance. When the CO2 concentration level exceed the 35000 ppm, the
central nervous system damaged and cannot do its duty. [4, 5] When we consider this, the
closed areas like classes, meeting rooms, offices, rooms and working environments should be
keep under control in terms of CO2 concentration.
1.2. Gas Sensors

With the increasing industrialization and population around the world, air pollution become a
danger for living beings. It is important to detect and controlling the amount of the toxic,
flammable, explosive and dangerous gases in our environments. Hence, gas sensors are
becoming essential in recent years. Gas sensors allows monitoring and observing the
concentration of these mentioned gases in the used area. Thus, a, reliable, cost-effective,
highly sensitive, low energy consuming, and small size gas sensor is the most effective
candidate to avoid unexpected situations caused by toxic and explosive gases. [6,7]

1.2. Types of Gas Sensors

Up to present, too many types of gas sensors have been produced and developed. The
differences between them are mainly due to their materials and sensing methods.
Accordingly, the gas sensors are classified as catalytic combustion, electrochemical, thermal
conductive, infrared absorption, paramagnetic, solid electrolyte and metal oxide
semiconductor sensors. [8] According to sensing methods, gas sensors are classified as two
groups which are methods based on variation in electrical properties and based on variation in
other properties. Materials like semiconductor metal oxides (SMO), carbon nanotubes and
polymers are able to sense gas based on variation in electrical properties. The other variations
are optic, acoustic, gas chromatographic and calorimetric. [9]

1.2. Metal Oxide Based Thin Film Gas Sensors

When the gas sensing performances are considered,

Recently, the development of nanostructured materials has resulted in enhanced gas sensing
performance as compared to bulk material due to their superior qualities like large surface area and
small size (Wang, 2008; Li et al., 2009). Till now, several types of MOx-based gas sensors have been
explored, including SnO2, TiO2, ZnO, WO3, CuO, and Fe2O3 with different morphologies (Zhang et
al., 2018a,b,c; Dwivedi et al., 2017; Vallejos et al., 2018; Urasinska-Wojcik et al., 2017; Umar et al.,
2017; Sun et al., 2012). The sensing response of gas sensor usually depends upon the dimension of
nanostructures (Choi and Jang, 2010; Liao et al., 2007a,b). Thus, several synthesis methods (for
producing different nanostructures), including chemical vapor deposition, radio frequency (RF)
sputtering, hydrothermal, electrospinning, sol–gel method, template synthesis method, molecular
beam epitaxy, and metal organic chemical vapor deposition have been explored (Ameen et al., 2012;
Baratto, 2018; Yang et al., 2013; Mondal and Sharma, 2016; Sui and Charpentier, 2012; Boyjoo et al.,
2016; Ogata et al., 2001; Niu et al., 2018). Different types of morphologies and nanostructures can be
achieved by using different types of synthesis methods. These nanostructures include thin films,
nanoplates, nanospheres, nanowires, nanorods, nanotubes, nanoflowers, nanofibers, nanoneedles,
and nanoribbons (Nunes et al., 2019). Hence, the detection of different target gases (both oxidizing
and reducing), such as NH3, NO2, H2, H2S, SO2, CO2, CH4, acetone, toluene, ethanol, and CO is made
possible using different types of morphologies of MOx-based sensors (Wang et al., 2010a,b)

1 DOI 10.1186/s12245-017-0142-y

2 https://www.medindia.net/patientinfo/hypoxia.htm

3 Ikeda N, Takahashi H, Umetsu K, Suzuki T. The course of respiration and circulation in

death by carbon dioxide poisoning. Forensic Sci Int. 1989; 41(1):93–9.

4 https://learn.kaiterra.com/en/air-academy/is-carbon-dioxide-harmful-to-
people#:~:text=CO2%20is%20not%20poisonous%3B%20as,t%20be%20able%20to
%20breathe.

5 Bulut, H., Havalandırma ve İç Hava Kalitesi Açısından CO2 Miktarının Analizi, Tesisat
Mühendisliği , Sayı 128, Mart/Nisan 201, 2012, pp.61 (Havalandırma ve İç Hava Kalitesi
Açısından CO 2 Miktarının Analizi - PDF Free Download (docplayer.biz.tr))

6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1992666

7 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mseb.2017.12.036

8 S.A. Hooker, Nanotechnology advantages applied in Gas sensor development, in: The
Nanoparticles 2002 Conference Proceedings, USA, 2002

9 X. Liu, S. Cheng, H. Liu, S. Hu, D. Zhang, H. Ning, A survey on gas sensing technology, Sensor 12
(2012) 9635–9665.