Abstract
Atomistic understanding of the interaction between defects and active surface of the sensor is necessary for the developing devices detecting bio-and gas mixtures. We performed first principles computer simulations of the carbon dioxide (CO2) molecule adsorption on a ZnO surface in various configurations and location on the surface. It is shown that the tridentate configuration is the most energetically favorable, the binding energy of the molecule weakly depends on the surface coverage. The presence of intrinsic defects on the surface, such as an oxygen vacancy, leads to a small reduction of the binding energy. The observed data from the NEXAFS experiment and hypothetical formation of a new compound H2CO on the surface are discussed in the light of our calculations.