Abstract
Zinc oxide thin films annealed at different temperatures (400, 450, 500, 550 °C) were prepared using the spray pyrolysis technique (SPT). X-ray scattering measurements have shown that the films were polycrystalline, having a hexagonal wurtzite structure with a dominated alignment in the (002) plane direction. The films undergo increases in crystallite size due to annealing temperatures. All the films showed more than 90% transparency across the whole visible spectrum. A blue shift of the visible energy gap was observed through increased annealing temperatures. Measurement of the gas response of the zinc oxide thin films to ethanol gas at an operating temperature of 150 °C and a gas concentration of 1000 ppm showed a high percentage response of 97.15%. Also, the response time and recovery time were measured for different annealing temperatures. The novelty in this research is the manufacture of a local system by the research team that can be used as a gas sensing system for thin films such as zinc oxide, which in turn succeeded in sensing ethanol gas.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude and acknowledge to the Department of Physics staff at College of Science of the Mustansiriyah University, the Laboratory of Advanced Materials, for making the necessary measurements.
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ES conceived the topic. OM and ES implemented and tested the samples. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Hassan, E.S., Abdulmunem, O.M. Measuring the Response of Annealed Zinc Oxide Thin Films to Ethanol Gas. Braz J Phys 52, 160 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13538-022-01158-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13538-022-01158-9