{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,28]],"date-time":"2026-07-28T04:27:03Z","timestamp":1785212823118,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,1,13]],"date-time":"2018-01-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1515801600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the National Science Foundation of China","award":["No.61665011, No.11504313"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No.61665011, No.11504313"]}]},{"name":"Xinjiang Science and Technology Project","award":["No.QN2016YX0040"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No.QN2016YX0040"]}]},{"name":"Doctors fund of Xinjiang University","award":["BS150219"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BS150219"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>A highly sensitive self-powered humidity sensor has been realized from AuNPs hybrid black zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods prepared through a sol-gel method. XRD pattern reveals that both ZnO and ZnO\/AuNPs exhibit a wurtzite structure. ZnO\/AuNPs nanorods grow in a vertical alignment, which possesses high uniformity and forms dense arrays with a smaller diameter than that of ZnO nanoparticles. All ZnO\/AuNPs and pure black ZnO show lower band gap energy than the typically reported 3.34 eV of pure ZnO. Furthermore, the band gap of ZnO\/AuNPs nanocomposites is effectively influenced by the amount of AuNPs. The humidity sensing tests clearly prove that all the ZnO\/AuNPs humidity sensors exhibit much higher response than that of ZnO sensors, and the sensitivity of such ZnO\/AuNPs nanorods (6 mL AuNPs) display a change three orders higher than that of pure ZnO with relative humidity (RH) ranging from 11% to 95% at room temperature. The response and recovery time of the ZnO\/AuNPs are 5.6 s and 32.4 s, respectively. This study of the construction of semiconductor\/noble metal sensors provides a rational way to control the morphology of semiconductor nanomaterials and to design a humidity sensor with high performance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s18010218","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,1,15]],"date-time":"2018-01-15T12:30:36Z","timestamp":1516019436000},"page":"218","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["AuNPs Hybrid Black ZnO Nanorods Made by a Sol-Gel Method for Highly Sensitive Humidity Sensing"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7252-4071","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hongyan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Science and Technology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Min","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Science and Technology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cunchong","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Science and Technology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jun","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Science and Technology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,1,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"499","DOI":"10.1016\/j.snb.2016.06.025","article-title":"Thin film YSZ-based limiting current-type oxygen and humidity sensor on thermally oxidized silicon substrates","volume":"236","author":"Akasaka","year":"2016","journal-title":"Sens. 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