A chemical sensor (chemiresistor) was constructed from a xenon light bulb by coating it with a 3-D zinc oxide coated silica nanospring mat, where the xenon light bulb serves as the sensor heater. The sensor response to toluene as a function of xenon light bulb sensor temperature (T LB ) and vapor temperature (T V ) was observed and analyzed. The optimum operational parameters in terms of T LB and T V were determined to be 435 °C and 250 °C, respectively. The activation energy of toluene

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... n (E d ) on the ZnO surface was determined to be 87 kJ· mol −1 , while the activation energy of oxidation (E a ) of the depleted ZnO surface was determined to be 83 kJ· mol −1 . This study serves as proof of principle for integrating nanomaterials into an inexpensive sensor platform, which can also be used to characterize gas-solid, or vapor-solid, redox processes.