Research Team Including Professor Shim Youngseok of Silla University Develops High-Performance Gas Sensor Array for Toxic Gas Detection

Development of Low-Concentration Acetone, Toluene, Ammonia, and Hydrogen Sulfide Detection and Discrimination Technology

High-Performance Electronic Nose Expected for Indoor Air Quality Measurement

Published in the Royal Society of Chemistry

Professor Shim Young-seok, Department of New Materials Engineering, Silla University.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] A domestic research team, including Professor Shim Young-seok of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Silla University (President Kim Chung-seok), has attracted attention by developing a high-performance gas sensor array capable of detecting and discriminating harmful gases.

Professor Shim Young-seok participated as the corresponding author in this research, collaborating with Professor Jeon Seok-woo of KAIST, Ph.D. candidate Lee Jin-ho, and Professor Jeon Seong-chan of Yonsei University.

The research results were published in the 2021 (Issue 2) edition of the internationally renowned journal ‘Journal of Materials Chemistry A,’ published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK. (Paper title: High-performance gas sensor array for indoor air quality monitoring: the role of Au nanoparticles on WO3, SnO2, and NiO-based gas sensors)

With the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and cold waves, time spent indoors has increased rather than outdoor activities, making exposure to harmful gases such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide, which are easily generated indoors, more likely.

Even low concentrations over long periods can cause serious respiratory diseases and damage to the peripheral and central nervous systems.

The research team fabricated nano-dome shaped WO3, SnO2, and NiO materials with increased surface area reactive to harmful gases based on the soft-template method.

By coating nano-sized gold catalysts on the material surfaces using electron beam deposition, they succeeded in producing a high-performance 3x3 gas sensor array capable of discriminating acetone, toluene, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide.

The team conducted experiments exposing the fabricated 3x3 gas sensor array to harmful gases at various operating temperatures. Using the Arrhenius equation and principal component analysis (PCA), they confirmed the detection and discrimination results of harmful gases and sensing materials and succeeded in elucidating the role of the gold catalyst.

Professor Shim Young-seok stated, “The importance of indoor air quality monitoring has recently begun to increase, and indoor harmful gases have emerged as a problem threatening health. The technology developed through this research can be used for indoor air quality monitoring and is expected to become a fundamental technology for electronic noses applicable in various fields.”

This research was supported by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Land and Transport Technology Promotion Research Project and the Korea Research Foundation’s Fundamental Technology Development Project and Nanomaterial Technology Development Project.

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