Triboelectric Nanogenerator Enhanced Schottky Nanowire Sensor for Highly Sensitive Ethanol Detection

Highly sensitive ethanol sensors are important for environmental and industrial monitoring. In our work, we demonstrate a method to enhance the response of a Schottky sensor based on a ZnO nano/microwire (NMW) by triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). Via lowering the Schottky barrier height (SBH) via the high voltage from TENG, the response of the sensor is enhanced by 139% for 100 ppm ethanol. This method accelerates the recovery process. The high voltage from TENG produces a high intensity electric field to drive diffusion of the oxygen vacancies in ZnO NMW toward to the junction area around the interface. It is equivalent to applying the reverse voltage on the Schottky junction, which leads to the increase of depletion width. More chemisorbed oxygen on the depletion region is consumed once the ethanol gas is injected into the chamber, which improves the response of the ethanol sensor. This study provides a new, simple, and effective method to improve the sensor response.