ZnO and Al-doped ZnO thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis for ethanol gas sensing

Abstract

Chemically sprayed aluminum-doped ZnO (1% Al) and undoped ZnO thin films were deposited on glass substrates at T = 420 °C. The thin films are characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The characterization results show that all the compounds are wurtzite with hexagonal structure (0 0 2). They are well crystallized and the grain size is ( e = 0.1 μ m) for undoped ZnO and ( e = 0.13 μ m) for Al-doped ZnO. The prepared Al-doped ZnO showed good gas responses to ethanol for two concentrations 200 ppm and 400 ppm. Short response time is given by Al-doped ZnO comparing with undoped ZnO films, its estimate at (~10 s) and recovery time (~15 s) to 200 ppm at T = 220 °C.