Surface Morphology Dependent Copper Sulphide Ammonia Gas Sensor Working at Room Temperature: Effect of SHI Irradiation

We report the synthesis of copper sulphide (CuS) nano-pillars on copper sulphide thin film surface by using swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation. Thin films of CuS are irradiated with 100 MeV gold ions at fluence varying from 1011 to 5 ´ 1012 ions/cm2. These nanostructures grown on the surface of copper sulphide has been used for the detection of ammonia gas at room temperature. The time dependent surface conductance measurements show the utility of copper sulphide for the detection of ammonia. It is observed that the response of the material is highly influenced by the irradiation fluence.