Sensors and Actuators B 156 (2011) 505–509

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Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/snb

Letter

A selective room temperature formaldehyde gas sensor using TiO2 nanotube arrays

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: A new gas sensor using TiO2 nanotube arrays was fabricated and explored for formaldehyde detection at
TiO2 room temperature. Highly ordered vertically grown TiO2 nanotube arrays were synthesized by using the
Room temperature gas sensor conventional electrochemical anodization process. The sensor using the fabricated nanotube arrays as the
Formaldehyde
sensing elements demonstrated a good response to different concentrations of formaldehyde from 10 to
50 ppm and a very good selectivity over other reducing gas species such as ethanol and ammonia at room
temperature. While the exact sensing mechanism is unclear, some possibilities are briefly discussed.
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction ysis and chemical sensing [24–32]. The flexibility in adjustment

Formaldehyde (HCHO) is a colorless, pungent-smelling gas and
can cause several symptoms such as watery eyes, burning sensa-
tion in the eyes and throat, nausea, and difficulty in breathing in
some humans exposed at elevated levels (above 0.1 parts per mil-
lion). High concentrations may trigger heart attack in people with
asthma [1–6]. HCHO is also a possible carcinogen and may cause
central nervous system damage, immune system disorders, as well
as blindness and respiratory diseases [1–3]. Such highly health-
threatening gas species can exist in substantial concentrations both
indoors and outdoors. Sources of formaldehyde in the home include
building materials and household products [1–6]. Therefore, there
is a high demand on deployment of portable, cheaper gas detec-
tors at home and work place for real-time monitoring the levels of
formaldehyde so that precautions can be taken in the presence of
this toxic gas.
Metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors to detect toxic gas
species are attractive due to their simple working principle, high
sensitivity, portability and low cost [7–15]. For formaldehyde
detection, various metal oxides have been investigated including
SnO2 or doped SnO2 [4–6,8,9], WO3 [9], LaFe1−x Znx O3 [10], NiO
thin film [11,12], CdO-mixed In2 O3 [13] and doped ZnO [14,15].
These sensors indicate good sensitivity to ppm or sub-ppm levels of
formaldehyde and have potential to be employed in real situation.
However, one of the obvious disadvantages is that they operate
at elevated temperatures usually around 200–400 ◦ C [7–15] and
require a heater integrated with the sensor. This would raise the
operating cost and also add requirements on packaging materials,
further complicating the sensor design. Therefore, recent research
has focused on modifying the conventional materials including
utilization of nanosized particles or nanostructural architectures,
sometimes aided with the UV–visible illumination during the sen-
sor operation [16–22].
Since the highly ordered vertically grown TiO2 nanotubes have
been successfully synthesized by Grimes et al. [23], they have been
explored for various applications such as in solar cells, photocatal-
of the microstructure in terms of tube length, pore diameter and
chemical composition has offered an excellent platform that can
be tailored to meet different requirements [26]. Particularly, in
gas sensing, it has been studied for the detection of ppm-level
oxygen, H2 , acetone, and humidity at relatively low temperatures
[24–26,29–32]. The basic working principle involves adsorption
and desorption of the dissociated oxygen due to the large specific
surface area of the nanotubes for oxygen, humidity and acetone
detection. In the case for H2 detection in pure nitrogen background,
the splitting of H2 and direct interaction between hydrogen and the
nanotube surface is involved [26,33].
In this work, TiO2 nanotube arrays have been studied for the
detection of formaldehyde at room temperature for the first time
to the best of our knowledge.
2. Experimental
Titanium sheets (purity: 99.4%) were successively sonicated
in acetone, ethanol and deionized water for 10 min at each step
to remove any grease on the surface before the electrochemical
anodization. The anodization was performed using a two-electrode
cell. The as-treated Ti plates were used as the working electrodes
and a stainless steel served as the counter electrode. The samples
were anodized in a solution containing 0.27 M NH4 F consisting of
mixtures of DI water and glycerol (1,2,3-propanetriol) prepared in
a volumetric ratio of 50:50. The anodization consisted of a poten-
tial ramp from the open-circuit potential to 30 V, and held at that
potential for another 3 h. Subsequently, the as-fabricated oxidized
samples were rinsed in sequence with ethanol and deionized water
and dried in an air stream. The samples were then calcined at 400 ◦ C
and 500 ◦ C for 3 h, respectively.
The phase formation of the fabricated samples was analyzed
using a powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD: D8 Advance, Bruker-
AXS, Germany). The XRD patterns were collected using Ni-filtered
Cu K␣ radiation at 40 kV and 25 mA between 2 of 15–65◦ at a scan-
ning speed of 12◦ /min. The surface morphology of the fabricated

0925-4005/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.snb.2011.02.046
506 Letter / Sensors and Actuators B 156 (2011) 505–509
Fig. 1. Photograph of the electrode geometry of the sensor using TiO2 nanotube
array.
nanotubes was examined using a scanning electron microscope
(SEM: S-3000N, Hitachi, Japan) on gold-coated specimens.
The sensing measurements were conducted under a static
condition in a sealed chamber with a total volume of 50 L. The
temperature inside the chamber remained constant at 22 ± 1 ◦ C
monitored by a mercury thermometer. The relative humidity (R.H.)
was uniform throughout at around 40% which was measured by
an electronic hygrometer fixed inside the chamber. The corre-
sponding liquid solution containing formaldehyde was placed in
a small crucible and then evaporated into the chamber during
each sensing measurement. The concentration of the formaldehyde
was calculated according to the volume of the evaporated vapor
and total volume of the chamber assuming the total pressure was
kept constant at one atmosphere and at 25 ◦ C. Therefore, differ-
ent concentrations of formaldehyde were obtained by controlling
the amount of liquid in the small crucible. Ethanol and ammonia
gas vapors were obtained in a similar way. The background gas was
the ambient air. After each test, the gas was released to the ambient
by opening the front window of the chamber and simultaneously,
the ambient air was re-introduced. Since the process for the ana-
lyte clearance out of the chamber would take a longer time, the
recovery process of the sensor was not measured in this work.
The electrode connections of the TiO2 nanotube array based sen-
sors are shown in Fig. 1. The sensing element is the TiO2 tube grown
on a Ti sheet. Two stainless steel clips were clamped on the TiO2
nanotubes and served as the electrodes during the sensor tests.
The distance between the two electrodes was around 2–3 mm. The
electrical resistance of the nanotubes was measured by an Agi-
lent digital electrometer (34401A) with data acquisition capability
using the IntuiLink software. The response of the sensor is defined
as the relative change of the resistance of the nanotubes in ambi-
ent air and in the analytes: S = (Rg − Ro )/Ro × 100%, where Rg is the
resistance of the sensor in formaldehyde with air background and
Ro is the resistance in air.
3. Results and discussion
Fig. 2 shows XRD patterns of the as-fabricated and calcined
TiO2 nanotubes at 400 ◦ C and 500 ◦ C. The as-fabricated sample was
amorphous. It has been reported that this amorphous structure
would persist until it is calcined above 300 ◦ C [30,34]. To obtain the
Fig. 2. X-ray diffraction patterns of TiO2 nanotube arrays annealed at different tem-
peratures: (a) as-fabricated, (b) annealed at 400 ◦ C and (c) annealed at 500 ◦ C.
crystalline phase, thermal treatment was carried out above 300 ◦ C.
The clear sharp peaks shown in the XRD patterns of the two samples
calcined at 400 ◦ C and 500 ◦ C indicate the presence of a crystalline
phase. As calcination temperature increased, the samples crystal-
lized into two phases with anatase dominant at lower temperature
and then the more stable rutile appeared when the temperature
was raised up to 500 ◦ C. The titanium peaks labeled in figure are
from the top edge of the titanium sheet which was not immersed
in the electrolyte during the anodization process and thus was not
converted to oxide.
Fig. 3 shows the surface morphology of the fabricated nan-
otubes. The measured pore diameter from Fig. 3(a) was around
150 nm and the tube length was 1.7 micrometers determined
by the cross-sectional observation (result not shown here). The
as-fabricated amorphous nanotube array was packed closely and
uniformly, while some fuzzy deposits were also observed on the
surface. Increasing the calcination temperature to 400 ◦ C (Fig. 3(b))
indicates signs of stress in the thin-film nanotubes; cracks are
clearly observed among the nanotubes. This became more obvi-
ous when the annealing temperature further increased up to 500 ◦ C
(Fig. 3(c)). Appearance of the rutile phase usually accompanied the
crystal growth as the calcination temperature increased [35]. It is
possible that such expansion in the crystal size of the rutile induced
a certain stress in the nanotube array producing the small cracks
observed.
Fig. 4(a) shows the response of the TiO2 nanotube-based sensors
to different concentrations of formaldehyde in the background of
ambient air with R.H. ∼40% at room temperature. All three sen-
sors indicated responses to formaldehyde within a concentration
range from 10 to 50 ppm. The resistance of the TiO2 nanotubes
increased with exposure to formaldehyde. The sensor using the
TiO2 nanotubes annealed at 400 ◦ C showed the best response
to formaldehyde among the three sensors tested. The detection
limit is estimated to be around 0.04 ppm using the calculation
method in reference [36]. The response curve of the sensor using
TiO2 nanotubes annealed at 400 ◦ C to different concentrations of
formaldehyde is shown in Fig. 4(b). The response time, defined
as the time taken for the sensor’s resistance to reach the 90% of
the steady-state resistance, is around 3 min. Due to the limit of the
testing apparatus, the recovery curves were not measured.
Fig. 5(a) shows a comparison of the responses of the sensor
using the TiO2 nanotube array annealed at 400 ◦ C to formalde-
 Letter / Sensors and Actuators B 156 (2011) 505–509 507

40
As-fabricated (a)
o
Calcined at 400 C
o
30 Calcined at 500 C

Response (S%)
20

10

10 20 30 40 50
Cformaldehyde/ppm

50
4.5
40

30

R (MOhm)
4.0
20

[ppm] HCHO
10
3.5
Ambient

3.0
0 150 300 450 600 750
Time/Min

Fig. 4. (a) Response of the fabricated TiO2 nanotube array based sensors and (b) a
response curve of the sensor using the TiO2 nanotubes annealed at 400 ◦ C to different
concentrations of formaldehyde at room temperature (22 ± 1 ◦ C) with R.H.∼40%.

Fig. 3. Scanning electron micrographs of TiO2 nanotube arrays (a) as-prepared, (b)
annealed at 400 ◦ C and (c) annealed at 500 ◦ C.
hyde and other possible interference gases such as ammonia (NH3 )
and ethanol. The sensor showed much higher response to 50 ppm
formaldehyde than that at 50 ppm NH3 and 1000 ppm ethanol.
Moreover, it can be observed from the corresponding response
curves as shown in Fig. 5(b) that the sensor also indicates a shorter
response time to formaldehyde.
The sensing mechanism for the metal oxides working in the
humidified air at room temperatures (usually 0–30 ◦ C) is often
proposed to be related to the electrolytic dissociations of the gas
species in the adsorbed water molecules covered on the surface of
the metal oxides [37–39]. The ionized species in the water molecule
would ensure a change in the pH value on the oxide surface and thus
change the electrons/holes densities at the conduction or valence
bands of the oxide semiconductor. This consequently would result
in the sensor signals observed [37,39]. However, as pointed out
by Helwig et al. [37,39], this “dissociative gas sensing mechanism”
requires that the analyte gases should have a good water solubility
and be easily ionized in water. Moreover, the sensor signals induced
by such type of sensing mechanism are usually small. Therefore, it
seems the response of the sensor to ammonia and ethanol should
fall into this type of sensing theory.
Usually, pure TiO2 shows an n-type behavior when exposed to
reducing gases [24,26]. However, iron dopant has been reported
to be present in the fabricated nanotubes when stainless steel is
used as the cathode material [27]. The small amount of the triva-
lent Fe introduced could substitute on the Ti site in TiO2 according
TiO2 
to: Fe2 O3 −→2FeTi + 3Oo + 2h· , consequently generating electronic
holes and making the TiO2 nanotube a p-type semiconductor.
Therefore, according to the “dissociative gas sensing mechanism”
[37–39], ammonia and ethanol could be ionized in the water film
adsorbed on the surface of TiO2 nanotubes and thereby increase
the pH value, i.e. a decrease in the proton concentration (CH+ ), at
the surface. Consequently, more positively charged holes at the
surface of the nanotube oxide have to be extracted to neutralize
the adsorbed water molecule film. However, because of the strong
508 Letter / Sensors and Actuators B 156 (2011) 505–509

a when exposed to formaldehyde would lead to a decrease in the pH

50 ppm value consequently resulting in a decrease in the resistance of the
TiO2 nanotubes [37–39]. Obviously, this is contrary to the increase
in the sensor resistance when exposed to formaldehyde observed
30
in this work (Fig. 4). With the limited data we have, it is not possible
to explain this behavior and further studies are needed.
Response (S%)

20
4. Conclusions
1000 ppm
In summary, a new room-temperature formaldehyde gas
10 sensor using the TiO2 nanotube array is reported in this
50 ppm work. The sensor using TiO2 nanotube array annealed at
400 ◦ C shows the best response among the samples investi-
0 gated to different concentrations of formaldehyde from 10 to
Ethanol Formaldehyde Ammonia 50 ppm and good selectivity toward formaldehyde over 50 ppm
ethanol and 1000 ppm ammonia in humidified air at room
b temperature.
2
50 ppm NH3
1 Acknowledgements
0
Dr. Shiwei Lin appreciates the financial support from the
12 Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University
8 (NCET-09-0110) and National International Cooperation Program
S%

1000 ppm Ethanol

4 (2009DFA92551). Dr. Xiaogan Li would like to thank the foun-
0 dations from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central
30 50 ppm HCHO
15
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Time/Min
Fig. 5. (a) Selectivity of the sensor using the TiO2 nanotubes annealed at 400 ◦ C over
NH3 and ethanol, and (b) the corresponding response curves to 50 ppm formalde-
hyde, 50 ppm NH3 and 1000 ppm ethanol at room temperature (22 ± 1 ◦ C) with
R.H.∼40%.
coordination of the water molecule with the charged protons, the
neutralisation force would be expected to be very weak. This com-
bined effects possibly led to the small increase in the resistance of
the oxides observed in Fig. 5.
However, for formaldehyde, it could not be easily ionized in
water although it has a good water solubility. Evidence has also
indicated that formaldehyde would not be decomposed on the
nanocrystalline TiO2 in the humidified air at room temperature
[40]. Therefore, both the room temperature “dissociative sensing
mechanism” discussed above and the conventional combustion
theory for metal oxides based gas sensors working at high tem-
peratures do not seem to be valid for the response of the sensor to
formaldehyde observed in Fig. 4. A new theory has to be considered.
The adsorbed water molecule on the surface of the nanocrys-
talline TiO2 could be dissociated into two types of hydroxyl (OH− )
groups: terminal hydroxyl (TH) and bridging hydroxyl (BH) groups
even at room temperature in the humidified air [40]. These OH−
groups are believed to contribute to the pH value and density of
the charge carriers in the thin adsorbed water film on the surface
of the oxide [37–39]. Moreover, according to the work reported in
[40], with the introduction of formaldehyde on the surface of the
nanocrystalline TiO2 in the humidified atmosphere at room tem-
perature, the amount of these two types of OH− groups adsorbed on
the TiO2 surface was significantly decreased due to the hydrogen
bonding between the molecularly adsorbed formaldehyde and the
hydroxyl groups. Therefore, one would expect that the significant
decrease in OH− groups on the surface of the nanocrystalline TiO2
Universities. The authors thank Prof. Jing Wang for providing the
sensor testing facility. Help rendered by Mr. Pengjun Yao and Mr.
Yangong Zheng on the experiments is also appreciated.
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509
Biographies
Dr. Shiwei Lin currently is a professor at Hainan University, PR China. He received
his Ph.D. degree from the University of Manchester in Electrical and Electronic Engi-
neering in the U.K. in 2006. His research interests include self-organized nanotubes,
metal-oxide semiconductors and their photoelectric properties.
Ms. Dongrong Li is a final-year undergraduate student in Hainan University, Haikou,
PR China.
Mr. Jian Wu is a final-year undergraduate student in the School of Electronic Science
and Technology in Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning, PR China.
Dr. Xiaogan Li is an associate professor in the School of Electronic Science and Tech-
nology in Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning, PR China. He received
his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from University of Leeds, U.K. in 2007.
Then he conducted a two-year postdoctoral research in chemical gas sensors at The
Ohio State University in USA from 2007 to 2009. His current research interests are
in chemical sensors, inorganic materials chemistry and physics, and biosensors.
Prof. Sheikh Akbar received his Ph.D. in materials and engineering from Purdue
University. He is currently a professor of materials science and engineering at The
Ohio State University. Prof. Akbar also founded the NSF Center for Industrial Sensors
and Measurements (CISM) at Ohio State, with primary focus on the R&D of sensors
for applications in hostile industrial environments.
Shiwei Lin
Dongrong Li
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for
Application Technology of Chemical Materials in
Hainan Superior Resources, Hainan University,
Haikou 570228, PR China
Jian Wu
Xiaogan Li ∗
Institute of Sensor Technologies, School of Electronic
Science and Technology, Dalian University of
Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, PR China
S.A. Akbar
Center for Industrial Sensors and Measurements,
Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
∗ Corresponding author at: School of Electronic
Science and Technology, Institute of Sensor
Technologies, Chuan Xin Yuan Building A1226,
Linggong RD, No. 2 Gan Jing Zi, Dalian, Liaoning
116024, PR China. Tel.: +86 0411 8470 6660.
E-mail address: lixg@dlut.edu.cn (X. Li)
1 July 2010
Available online 2 March 2011