Sensors based on metal oxide nanostructures synthesized by arc discharge

Different synthetic methods have been developed to fabricate metal oxide nanostructures, but most of them require exotic reagents or are unsuitable for mass production. Till now, we've successfully synthesized zinc oxide (ZnO), tungsten oxide (WO
₃
) and titanium dioxide (TiO
₂
) nanostructures by arc discharge and the ability to tune the morphology of those nanostructures makes this method idea for fabrication of chemical sensing materials. In this paper, we present a review on metal oxide nanostructures synthesized by arc discharge demonstrating that arc discharge is a fast and inexpensive synthesis method which can be used to produce high quality metal oxide nanostructures for chemical sensing measurements. UV and gas sensing properties of ZnO nanostructures have been demonstrated as an example.