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Fe dopants enhancing ethanol sensitivity of ZnO thin film deposited by RF magnetron sputtering

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Abstract

Pure and 5 % Fe-doped ZnO thin films (TFs) have been successfully deposited on Al2O3 substrate from pre-doped target material by RF magnetron sputtering technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirm the formation of both films in single phase wurtzite structure without any extra impurity peak. The calculated average crystallite sizes are found to be 22 and 17 nm for pure and Fe-doped ZnO TFs, respectively. The broadening in XRD peaks of Fe-doped ZnO TF occurs due to decrease in crystallite size and increase in lattice strain. Field emission scanning electron microscopy images exhibit that the particles growth in Fe-doped ZnO TF is more uniform and smaller than pure ZnO. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results confirm the existence of Fe dopants into ZnO matrix. The doping effect enhances the sensitivity of ZnO sensor almost three times for ethanol gas sensing, the improvement in the response time and recovery time is noticeable as the size reduction effect increases the surface to volume ratio, and resulting more numbers of ethanol gas molecules are adsorbed to produce a higher concentration of oxygen ions which leads a larger deviation in capacitance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Council of Science & Technology (CST), Govt. of UP, India for financial support to Centre of Excellence in Materials Science (Nanomaterials). One of the authors (M. Mehedi Hassan) is thankful to the University Grants Commission (UGC) for providing financial support in the form of Maulana Azad National Fellowship. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), Govt. of India to Nano-Sensor Research Laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Excellence in Materials Science (Nanomaterials), Department of Applied Physics, Z.H. College of Engineering and Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, India

    M. Mehedi Hassan, Wasi Khan & A. H. Naqvi

  2. Nano-Sensor Research Laboratory, F/O Engineering and Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), New Delhi, 110025, India

    Prabhash Mishra & S. S. Islam

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  1. M. Mehedi Hassan
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  2. Wasi Khan
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  3. A. H. Naqvi
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Correspondence to Wasi Khan.

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Hassan, M.M., Khan, W., Naqvi, A.H. et al. Fe dopants enhancing ethanol sensitivity of ZnO thin film deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. J Mater Sci 49, 6248–6256 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8349-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8349-2

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