Effect of Annealing Temperature on the Morphology and Sensitivity of the Zinc Oxide Nanorods-Based Methane Senor

doi:10.1007/s40195-014-0099-2

Abstract

Abstract:

ZnO nanorods in the form of thin films were synthesized by a facile chemical route and the effect of annealing temperature on the structure and sensitivity of such ZnO-based sensors was studied in detail towards methane sensing. Morphological analyses of such films were carried out by scanning electron microscopy, whereas, the crystalline structure and phase purity of the films were analysed by X-ray diffraction technique. The films were observed to display a gradual change in their morphology from granular to dense nanorods and each of them was used to fabricate methane sensor prototype. They were also tested for temperature-dependent methane-sensing capability with varying methane concentrations. The optimized sensor exhibited highest gas response of ~80% at 250 °C with significantly low response and recovery time.

Key words: Chemical synthesis, ZnO nanostructures, Thin films, Annealing temperature, Gas sensor, Structural characterization

Biplob Mondal, Lachit Dutta, Chirosree Roychaudhury, Dambarudhar Mohanta, Nillohit Mukherjee, Hiranmay Saha. Effect of Annealing Temperature on the Morphology and Sensitivity of the Zinc Oxide Nanorods-Based Methane Senor[J]. Acta Metallurgica Sinica (English Letters), 2014, 27(4): 593-600.

Figures/Tables 12

Table 1 Summary of gas response of ZnO nanostructured sensor

Morphology	Method of preparation	Tatget gas	Senor temperature (°C)	Gas concentration (ppm)	Response	Ref.
Nanopiller	Solution growth	Ethanol and H₂	350	100	18.3 (ethanol) 10.4 (H₂)	[22]
Nanotertapod	Thermal evaporation	Ethanol	300	100	~29.4	[13]
Nanorod	Hydrothermal	H₂S	27	0.05	~1.7	[23]
Nanowire	Thermal evaporation	Ethanol	300	100	~33	[24]
Nanoplate	Solution growth/thermal annealing	Ethanol and chlorobenzene	200 (chlorobenzene) 300 (ethanol)		~6.9 (chlorobenzene) ~8.9 (ethanol)	[25, 26]
Nanoflower	Hydrothermal	–				[27, 28]
Nanofibre	Electrospinning	Ethanol	200	10	~0.89	[20]
Nanotube	Spray pyrolysis then oxidation	H₂	200	1000	~740	[29]

Fig. 1 Flowchart illustrating the steps in the chemical synthesis of ZnO nanorods

Fig. 2 Schematic of the sensor structure

Fig. 3 X-ray diffraction patterns of as-deposited sample a, samples annealed at 400 °C b, 550 °C c, 700 °C d

Fig. 4 SEM images of ZnO nanorod as deposited a, annealed at 400 °C b, 550 °C c, 700 °C d

Fig. 5 I–V characteristics of sensor prototypes I a, II b, III c at different operating temperatures

Fig. 6 Variation of conductance (?I/?V) with methane concentration for sensor I a, sensor II b, sensor III c

Fig. 7 Response vs. operating temperature at varied methane concentration for sensor I a, sensor II b, sensor III c

Fig. 8 Response of the annealed samples at different bias voltages (operating temperature is 250 °C) at 1.0% methane

Fig. 9 Response versus methane gas concentration for the annealed samples (operating temperature is 250 °C)

Fig. 10 Dynamic response of ZnO nanorod-based sensor (sensor II) at 250 °C in 1.0% methane

Table 2 Response and recovery time of the ZnO nanorod-based sensor prototype annealing at different temperatures when subject to methane with different concentrations

Annealing temperature (°C)	Response time (s)				Recovery time (s)
Annealing temperature (°C)	0.1%	0.3%	0.5%	1%	0.1%	0.3%	0.5%	1%
400	107	108	113	120	139	158	163	170
550	100	100	105	110	130	150	155	160
700	93	91	97	92	121	140	142	149

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