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Noticeable gas sensing properties of ZnO nano-crystallites using two-step preparation technique

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Abstract

ZnO thin films were made to grow on soda lime glass substrate through a two-step technique. The successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method (SILAR) at room temperature was employed by varying the number of SILAR cycles from 50 to 125 in steps of 25 on a ZnO seed layer deposited through nebulizer assisted spray pyrolysis technique (NSP). The characteristics of the two-step deposited films were studied with a quest for improvement when compared to ZnO thin films prepared through single step chemical processing techniques. All the prepared films are observed to be polycrystalline, with hexagonal crystal structure and preferential orientation of grains along (002) direction as per XRD analysis. The size of the crystallites grown along the (002) plane seems to increase with the number of dip cycles, reaching a maximum at 100 dip cycles. Furthermore increase in the film thickness causes the crystallite size to decrease. The 940 nm thick film had the lowest strain and dislocation density values, affirmed through structural characteristics. The surface morphology of the two-step processed ZnO thin films is observed to change with the film thickness as evidenced from HRSEM observations. The average elemental percentage ratio of Zn and O atoms in the deposited ZnO films was estimated using EDAX. Optical tests show a decrement in the band gap energy from 3.30 to 2.80 eV as the dip cycle is varied. The film with better characteristic properties is used to detect the presence of ammonia gas. This study shows that there is a definite variation in the ammonia detecting capability of the gas sensor when the active layer is produced through suggested two-step process. According to the impedance spectroscopy investigation, the grain boundary resistance reduces as ammonia concentration rises up to 250 ppm, with a maximum response observed for the film deposited with 100 dip cycles.

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Acknowledgements

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at KKU for funding to carry this work through the research groups program under Grant number R.G.P. 2/147/43.

Funding

.The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at KKU for funding to carry this work through the research groups program under Grant number R.G.P. 2/147/43.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. St. Joseph College of Arts and Science, Vaikalipatti, Tenkasi, Tamilnadu, 627808, India

    A. M. S. Arulanantham

  2. Thin Film Research Centre, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, 638060, India

    K. V. Gunavathy

  3. Department of Physics, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, 605014, India

    P. Mohan raj

  4. Department of Physics, School of Science and Humanities, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology, Avadi, Chennai, 600062, India

    M. Rigana Begam

  5. Advanced Functional Materials and Optoelectronic Laboratory (AFMOL), Department of Physics, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, 61413, Saudi Arabia

    V. Ganesh & I. S. Yahia

  6. Department of Physics, St. Joseph College, Trichy, 2, India

    S. Rex Rosario

  7. Department of Physics, Loyola College of Arts and Science, Rasipuram, Namakkal, 636202, India

    R. Thomas

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All authors contributed to the study, conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by KVG, PM, RB, VG, SR and RT. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Dr. AMSA and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The work described in the present article has not been published previously. It is not under consideration/submitted for publication elsewhere. Its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out. That, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere including electronically in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the copyright-holder. All authors have checked the manuscript and have agreed to the submission.

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Arulanantham, A.M.S., Gunavathy, K.V., Mohan raj, P. et al. Noticeable gas sensing properties of ZnO nano-crystallites using two-step preparation technique. Appl. Phys. A 129, 290 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-023-06556-7

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