【Device Papers】UV-Enhanced Room-Temperature Ammonia Detection Using a Ga₂O₃/Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXene Gas Sensor

      Researchers from the Kyungpook National University, have published a dissertation titled "UV-Enhanced Room-Temperature Ammonia Detection Using a Ga₂O₃/Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXene Gas Sensor" in IEEE Sensors Journal.

Abstract

      The present study proposes a Ga₂O₃/Ti₃C₂T_x heterojunction-based gas sensor capable of detecting NH₃ at room temperature. In this heterojunction, Ga₂O₃ nanorods, a type of metal oxide, were synthesized on 2-D Ti₃C₂T_x MXene using a hydrothermal method. The sensor was fabricated by drop casting the Ga₂O₃/Ti₃C₂T_x composite onto interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) and evaluated under varying NH3 concentrations with and without ultraviolet (UV) illumination. The fabricated Ga₂O₃/Ti₃C₂T_x heterojunction exhibits enhanced reactivity with ammonia gas due to the high surface area of Ga₂O₃ and the superior electrical conductivity of Ti₃C₂T_x, resulting in a synergistic effect that significantly improves NH₃ detection performance. In addition, when exposed to UV light at room temperature, the Ga₂O₃/Ti₃C₂T_x gas sensor demonstrates an increased response and stable baseline resistance recovery. The response to 25-ppm NH₃ increased from 18.68% without UV to 23.47% with UV, highlighting the enhanced performance enabled by UV illumination. These findings indicate the sensor’s potential for ammonia detection across a wide concentration range and highlight its promise for commercial applications in various environmental settings.

DOI：https://doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2025.3560314