This paper reports a facile functionalization method on a metal-oxide semiconductor and a cuprous oxide (Cu2O) based chemiresistive electronic nose for the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A library of functionalized Cu2O nanospheres was developed through silanization using chemically diverse organosilanes. An electronic nose was fabricated with unmodified Cu2O nanospheres and five types of functionalized Cu2O nanospheres as the sensing elements. The electronic nose showed stable and rapid resistance responses to 25-200 ppm model VOCs, with the operating temperature of 180 °C. Single VOCs and ternary VOC mixtures could be discriminated by the electronic nose, and six types of tea leaves were also proved to be distinguishable as an illustration of the application of the electronic nose. We expected that the silanization could provide a simple approach for material diversification and the electronic nose would have further application in identification and discrimination of complex gas samples.
Keywords: gas sensor; metal oxide semiconductor; nanoparticles; principal component analysis; sensor array; silanization.