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Synthesis, characterization, and gas-sensing performance of macroporous Zn-doped NiO thin films for ammonia gas detection

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Abstract

Zinc-doped nickel oxide (NiO:Zn) thin films have been synthesized by chemical spray pyrolysis (CSP), then we have studied the structural, morphological, and topographical properties. Thereafter, we have investigated the gas-sensing performance for the prepared films toward a low concentration of ammonia NH3 gas. The structural properties show that all films have a polycrystalline structure of cubic NiO along (111) direction, the crystallinity of thin films was improved by Zn-doping concentrations, and the crystallite size of thin films was decreased; on contrary, the lattice constant, unit cell volume, specific surface area, and Ni–O bond length were increased with increasing Zn-doping concentrations. The morphology of thin films has a macroporous nature with different pore diameters and nanoscopic surface roughness. The gas sensors based on NiO:Zn thin films exhibited a remarkable sensitivity and fast response as well as excellent long-term stability toward a low concentration of NH3 gas. Empirical equations were proposed to predict response/recovery time as a function of some correlated variables and revealed excellent coincidence with the measured values.

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Data availability

The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Research Centre (NAMRC), University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, College of Education, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq

    Hiba S. Rasheed & Faez M. Hassan

  2. Department of Geophysics, College of Remote Sensing and Geophysics, AL-Karkh University for Science, Baghdad, Iraq

    H. I. Abdulgafour

  3. Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials Research Center, University of Technology, Baghdad, Iraq

    Aus A. Najim

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  1. Hiba S. Rasheed
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  2. H. I. Abdulgafour
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  3. Faez M. Hassan
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  4. Aus A. Najim
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Contributions

AAN contributed to conceptualization, methodology, data curation, investigation, project administration, software, supervision, validation, visualization, writing-original draft, and writing-review & editing. FMH contributed to formal analysis, funding acquisition, project administration, and writing-original draft. HSR contributed to funding acquisition, writing-original draft. HIA: funding acquisition, project administration, and writing-original draft.

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Correspondence to Aus A. Najim.

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Rasheed, H.S., Abdulgafour, H.I., Hassan, F.M. et al. Synthesis, characterization, and gas-sensing performance of macroporous Zn-doped NiO thin films for ammonia gas detection. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 18187–18198 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-08675-y

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