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Fabrication of Al and La co-doped CdS thin film for ammonia gas-sensing application through low-cost nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique

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Abstract

By employing a nebulizer spray pyrolysis approach, thin films of CdS, Al, La, and Al–La co-doped CdS thin films have been effectively formed on glass substrates, and their physical characteristics have been examined. The structural investigations confirmed the hexagonal structure of CdS with a preference for orientation along the (1 0 1) plane. The maximum crystallite size was observed for the Al–La co-doped CdS film compared to other prepared thin films. The granular structure was distributed uniformly for all the films according to FESEM data. To determine the optical characteristics with Al, La, and Al–La co-doping, transmittance was examined and found that the Al–La co-doped CdS thin film exhibit lower transparency due to enhanced light scattering. The energy band-gap value slightly decreased from 1.58 to 1.56 eV for the undoped and co-doped CdS films. The doping causes an enhancement of the emission peaks for doped and co-doped CdS films at ambient temperature, and the gas-sensing performance of both pristine and doped CdS thin films was examined for ammonia (NH3) gas. Doped CdS films were shown to be significantly more sensitive and a higher gas response (1390) to NH3 than pristine CdS thin film. The present study also showed that the co-doping of Al and La with CdS exhibited a faster response and recovery time of (42/21 s) during NH3 gas detection.

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Acknowledgements

The author extends their appreciation to the research center for advance materials science (RCAMS), King Khalid University for funding this work under Grant No. RCAMS/KKU/026-23.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Institute of Aeronautical Engineering, Dundigal, Hyderabad, 500043, India

    Kamatam Hari Prasad

  2. Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Manakula Vinayagar Institute of Technology, Kalitheerthalkuppam, Puducherry, 605 107, India

    S. Vinoth

  3. Laboratory of Nano-Smart Materials for Science and Technology (LNSMST), Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P. O. Box 9004, Abha, Saudi Arabia

    V. Ganesh

  4. Department of Physics, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500075, India

    Ramesh Ade

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All the authors contributed equally to the article. KHP: investigation, writing, and formal analysis. SV: review, writing original article, and source. VG: investigation, original writing analysis, and characterization. RA: writing and formal analysis.

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Hari Prasad, K., Vinoth, S., Ganesh, V. et al. Fabrication of Al and La co-doped CdS thin film for ammonia gas-sensing application through low-cost nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique. Appl. Phys. A 130, 204 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-024-07355-4

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