Synthesis of Nanostructured Metal Oxide by Microwave-Assisted Method and its Humidity Sensor Application

Abstract

Metal oxide nanomaterials are used in various applications because of their nano size and semiconducting nature. ZnO/TiO2 binary composite nanomaterials attracted the researchers due to the progressive properties compared with others. These nanomaterials were prepared by microwave-assisted technique using Zinc acetate, Titanium tetra isopropoxide (TTIP) and room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) as initial precursor material. The obtained ZnO and TiO2 nanomaterials were mixed by mechanical milling to prepare the nanocomposite material. These nanomaterials were heat treated at various temperatures and characterized. The nanomaterials were characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Particle size analyser (PSA), Scanning electron microscope (SEM) & Transmission electron microscope (TEM), Energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscope (FTIR) and Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) for crystal structure, particle distribution, surface morphology, elemental analysis, bond analysis and weight loss of the materials respectively. The humidity sensor application was investigated using above synthesized nanomaterials. The structure was formed as nanocomposite rods and the average humidity sensitivity is obtained as 4.1.