Gas Sensing Performances of ZnO Hierarchical Structures for Detecting Dissolved Gases in Transformer Oil: A Mini Review

Power transformer is one of the critical and expensive apparatus in high voltage power system. Hence, using highly efficient gas sensors to real-time monitor the fault characteristic gases dissolved in transformer oil is in pressing need to ensure the smooth functionalization of the power system. Till date, as a semiconductor metal oxide, zinc oxide (ZnO) is considered as the promising resistive-type gas sensing material. However, the elevated operating temperature, slow response, poor selectivity and stability limit its extensive applications in the field of dissolved gases monitoring. In this respect, rigorous efforts have been made to offset the above-mentioned shortcomings by multiple strategies. In this review, we first introduce the various ZnO hierarchical structures which possess high surface areas and less aggregation, as well as their corresponding gas sensing performances. Then, the primary parameters (sensitivity, selectivity and stability) which affect the performances of ZnO hierarchical structures based gas sensors are discussed in detail. Much more attention is particularly paid to the improvement strategies of enhancing these parameters, mainly including surface modification, additive doping and ultraviolet (UV) light activation. We finally review gas sensing mechanism of ZnO hierarchical structure based gas sensor. Such a detailed study may open up an avenue to fabricate sensor which achieve high sensitivity, good selectivity and long-term stability, making it a promising candidate for transformer oil monitor.