Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Synthesis of nitrogen-doped zinc oxide nanomaterials for hydrogen gas sensing applications

  • Published:
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Hydrogen sensing materials and their device developments are recent interests due to their potential importance. A chemiresistive type of sensor with N-doped ZnO nanomaterial has been developed for hydrogen sensing. N-doped ZnO nanomaterials were synthesized using a facile wet chemical strategy. XRD patterns indicated a decrease in the crystal size of the hexagonal wurtzite structure for ZnO. Morphological studies on the particulates of N-doped ZnO also indicated a change in the rod-like structure. Visible region functioning of the nanomaterials has been verified spectroscopically for absorption, and reduced band gap values in the N-doped ZnO have been noted. With N-doped ZnO nanomaterials, gas sensing performance resulted in better hydrogen sensing ability (73%).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

References

  1. S. Dhalla, B.R. Mehta, A.K. Tyagi, K. Sood, A review on environmental gas sensors: materials and technologies. Sens. Int. 2, 100116 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Y. Kang, F. Yu, L. Zhang, W. Wang, L. Chen, Y. Li, Review of ZnO-based nanomaterials in gas sensors. Solid State Ionics 360, 115544 (2021)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. M. Cao, Y. Wang, T. Chen, M. Antonietti, M. Niederberger, A highly sensitive and fast-responding ethanol sensor based on CdIn2O4 nanocrystals synthesized by a nonaqueous sol–gel route. Chem. Mater. 20, 5781–5786 (2008)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Y. Wang, T. Chen, Q. Mu, G. Wang, A nonaqueous sol–gel route to synthesize CdIn2O4 nanoparticles for the improvement of formaldehyde-sensing performance. Scripta Mater. 61, 935–938 (2009)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Z.H. Jing, J.H. Zhan, Fabrication and gas-sensing properties of porous ZnO nanoplates. Adv. Mater. 20, 4547–4551 (2008)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. J. Joo, B.Y. Chow, M. Prakash, E.S. Boyden, J.M. Jacobson, Face-selective electrostatic control of hydrothermal zinc oxide nanowire synthesis. Nat. Mater. 10, 596–601 (2011)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. U.K. Gautam, L.S. Panchakarla, B. Dierre, X. Fang, Y. Bando, T. Sekiguchi, A. Govindaraj, D. Golberg, C.N.R. Rao, Solvothermal synthesis, cathodoluminescence, and field-emission properties of pure and N doped ZnO nanobullets. Adv. Funct. Mater. 19, 131–140 (2009)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. W. Wen, J.M. Wu, Y.D. Wang, Gas-sensing property of a nitrogen-doped zinc oxide fabricated by combustion synthesis. Sens. Actuators B 184, 78–84 (2013)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. J.S. Michelle, Spencer, I. Yarovsky, ZnO nanostructures for gas sensing: interaction of NO2, NO, O, and N with the ZnO (1010) surface. J. Phys. Chem. C 114, 10881–10893 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. V. Kobrinsky, A. Rothschild, V. Lumelsky, Y. Komem, Y. Lifshitz, Tailoring the gas sensing properties of ZnO thin films through oxygen nonstoichiometry. Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 113520 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  11. M. Chen, Z. Wang, D. Han, F. Gu, G. Guo, Porous ZnO polygonal nanoflakes: synthesis, use in high-sensitivity NO2 gas sensor, and proposed mechanism of gas sensing. J. Phys. Chem. C 115, 12763–12773 (2011)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. M. Mapa, C.S. Gopinath, Combustion synthesis of triangular and multifunctional ZnO1–xNx (x ≤ 0.15) materials. Chem. Mater. 21, 351–359 (2009)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. D. Zagorac, J.C. Sch¨on, J. Zagorac, M. Jansen, Prediction of structure candidates for zinc oxide as a function of pressure and investigation of their electronic properties. Phys. Rev. B 89, 075201 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. T.T. Ha, T.D. Canh, N.V. Tuyen, A quick process for synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles with the aid of microwave irradiation. ISRN Nanotechnol. (2013). https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/497873

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. B.D. Cullity, Elements of X-ray Diffractions (Wesley, Boston, 1978)

    Google Scholar 

  16. J.I. Langford, A.J.C. Wilson, Scherrer after sixty years: a survey and some new results in the determination of crystallite size. J. Appl. Crystallogr. 11, 102–113 (1978)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. V. Uvarov, I. Popov, Metrological characterization of X-ray diffraction methods at different acquisition geometries for determination of crystallite size in nano-scale materials. Mater. Charact. 85, 111–123 (2013)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. P. Ewa, E. Guziewicz, B.S. Witkowski, Photoluminescence investigation of the carrier recombination processes in N-doped and undoped ZnO ALD films grown at low temperature. J. Lumin. 198, 68–76 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. J. Gao, X. Zhang, Y. Sun, Q. Zhao, D. Yu, Compensation mechanism in N-doped ZnO nanowires. Nanotechnology. 21(24), 245703 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. O. Lupan, V.V. Ursaki, G. Chai, L. Chow, G.A. Emelchenko, I.M. Tiginyanu, A.N. Gruzintsev, A.N. Redkin, Selective hydrogen gas nanosensor using individual ZnO nanowire with fast response at room temperature. Sens. Actuators B Chem. 144, 56–66 (2010)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. S. Agarwal, S. Kumar, M.G. Agrawal, M. Moinuddin, S.K. Kumar, Sharma, K. Awasthi, An efficient hydrogen gas sensor based on hierarchical Ag/ZnO hollow microstructures. Sens. Actuators B 346, 130510 (2021)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. N. Tit, W. Othman, A. Shaheen, M. Ali, High selectivity of N doped ZnO nano-ribbons in detecting H2, O2 and CO2 molecules: effect of negative-differential resistance on gas-sensing. Sens. Actuators B 270, 167–178 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. F. Li, H. Asadi, DFT study of the effect of platinum on the H2 gas sensing performance of ZnO nanotube: explaining the experimental observations. J. Mol. Liq. 309, 113139 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. W.W. Liu, B. Yao, Z.Z. Zhang, Y.F. Li, B.H. Li, Shan, X.W. Fan, Doping efficiency, optical and electrical properties of nitrogen-doped ZnO films. J. Appl. Phys. 109(9), 093518 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

No Funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri Krishna College of Technology, Coimbatore, 641042, India

    V. S. Sanjana Devi

  2. Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, K.Ramakrishnan College of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, 621112, India

    B. Balraj

  3. Department of Physics and Nanotechnology, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, 639113, India

    C. Siva

  4. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kongunadu College of Engineering, Tiruchirappalli, 621215, India

    S. Amuthameena

Authors
  1. V. S. Sanjana Devi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. B. Balraj
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. C. Siva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S. Amuthameena
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

SDVS contributed to Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, and Writing and original draft preparation. BB contributed to Project administration, Supervision, and Validation. AS contributed to Resources, Software, and Methodology. SC contributed to Conceptualization and Data curation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. Balraj.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. Furthermore, the authors declare no conflicts of interest that are relevant to the content of this article.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sanjana Devi, V.S., Balraj, B., Siva, C. et al. Synthesis of nitrogen-doped zinc oxide nanomaterials for hydrogen gas sensing applications. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 1905 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11294-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11294-w

Search

Navigation