Synthesis of high-quality CdS nanowires and their application as humidity sensors

High-quality CdS nanowires (NWs) were synthesized via the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method in a Cd-enriched atmosphere. Humidity sensing characteristics of CdS NWs have been investigated. It was found that the resistance of the NWs decreases with increasing relative humidity (RH). At room temperature (RT), a large resistance variation of similar to 2 orders of magnitude in the RH range of 30-90% reveals CdS NW has high humidity sensitivity. CdS NWs humidity sensor shows a high sensitivity of 47.5, a fast response time of 1.27 s, recovery time of 2.44 s and high stability to humidity variation. These results indicate that the CdS NWs can serve as high-performance humidity sensors. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.