Surface Functionalization by Gold Nanoparticles and Its Prospects for Application in Conductometric Metal Oxide Gas Sensors

Approaches to surface functionalizing by gold nanoparticles of metal oxides aimed for gas sensors applications are discussed in this paper. It is demonstrated that surface modification by gold nanoparticles is accompanied by improvement of sensor performance. However, analysis of obtained results has shown that the achievement of strong improvement of gas sensor parameters is not a trivial task. For its reduction, it is necessary to ensure several specific conditions related to the size and density of gold clusters on the surface of metal oxide crystallites, the state of gold in the cluster, and to the properties of the metal oxide support used. It is also demonstrated that additional studies are required before conductometric gas sensors modified by gold nanoclusters will appear in gas-sensor market.