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PreprintCC BYChemRxiv

Yielding Enhanced Gas Sensing in WO3 Thin Films via p-n Heterojunction Formation

  • Santosh Kumar1,2
  • Archana Singh Kharb1,2
  • Amit Kumar Chawla1,2
  • Amol Singh3,4
  • Subrata Ghosh1,2
  • Ratnesh K Pandey1,2,5,6
6 affiliations
  1. 1School of Advanced Engineering
  2. 2UPES
  3. 3Department of Physics and Astrophysics
  4. 4University of Delhi
  5. 5Applied Sciences and Humanities Department
  6. 6Samrat Ashok Rajkiya Engineering College
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Abstract

Semiconductor nanostructures have attracted considerable attention for developing high-performance gas sensors for the high-level detection of highly flammable and toxic gases. Herein, the present work integrates n-type WO3 with p-type Ag2O to form a p-n heterojunction by DC reactive magnetron co-sputtering technique. The CH4 sensing performance of the p-n heterojunction with Ag content is correlated with the crystalline structure, surface morphology, elemental composition, optical band gap, and chemical states of the thin film. The p-n heterojunction thin film with 3.63 at. % Ag exhibits a maximum CH4 sensitivity of 70.61 % towards 25 ppm at a low operating temperature of 75 °C. The optimised CH4 sensor also demonstrates a fast response/recovery time of 28 s/106 s with a low detection limit of 1 ppm, excellent repeatability, and long-term stability. The effectiveness of the p-n heterojunction is validated by comparing the sensing performance with that of pristine n-type WO3. Moreover, the utilisation of our optimised p-n heterojunction thin-film-based sensor is further extended towards CO, H2S, H2 and NH3 gas detection, with a detection limit of 25 ppm. This easily implementable approach to designing p-n heterojunctions could pave the way for advanced next-generation sensing technology.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{kumar2026yielding,
  title = {{Yielding Enhanced Gas Sensing in WO3 Thin Films via p-n Heterojunction Formation}},
  author = {Santosh Kumar and Archana Singh Kharb and Amit Kumar Chawla and Amol Singh and Subrata Ghosh and Ratnesh K Pandey},
  howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15011049/v1},
  url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15011049/v1},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Yielding Enhanced Gas Sensing in WO3 Thin Films via p-n Heterojunction Formation
AU  - Santosh Kumar
AU  - Archana Singh Kharb
AU  - Amit Kumar Chawla
AU  - Amol Singh
AU  - Subrata Ghosh
AU  - Ratnesh K Pandey
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/26
PB  - ChemRxiv
DO  - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15011049/v1
UR  - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15011049/v1
AB  - Semiconductor nanostructures have attracted considerable attention for developing high-performance gas sensors for the high-level detection of highly flammable and toxic gases. Herein, the present work integrates n-type WO3 with p-type Ag2O to form a p-n heterojunction by DC reactive magnetron co-sputtering technique. The CH4 sensing performance of the p-n heterojunction with Ag content is correlated with the crystalline structure, surface morphology, elemental composition, optical band gap, and chemical states of the thin film. The p-n heterojunction thin film with 3.63 at. % Ag exhibits a maximum CH4 sensitivity of 70.61 % towards 25 ppm at a low operating temperature of 75 °C. The optimised CH4 sensor also demonstrates a fast response/recovery time of 28 s/106 s with a low detection limit of 1 ppm, excellent repeatability, and long-term stability. The effectiveness of the p-n heterojunction is validated by comparing the sensing performance with that of pristine n-type WO3. Moreover, the utilisation of our optimised p-n heterojunction thin-film-based sensor is further extended towards CO, H2S, H2 and NH3 gas detection, with a detection limit of 25 ppm. This easily implementable approach to designing p-n heterojunctions could pave the way for advanced next-generation sensing technology.
ER  -