Improvement of N-ZnO chemiresistive gas sensor toward lower detection limit of acetone and ethanol at low operating temperature

• Published in: Materials letters Vol. 303; p. 130562
• Main Authors: Baharuddin, Aainaa Aqilah, Ang, Bee Chin, Haseeb, A.S.M.A., Wong, Yew Hoong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.11.2021; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Acetone; Ball milling; Doping; Ethanol; Gas sensors; Lower limit of detection; Materials science; Morphology; Nitrogen; Operating temperature; Semiconductor; Sensor; Sensors; Zinc oxide; ZnO; Semiconductor; ZnO; Lower limit of detection; Doping; Sensor
• ISSN: 0167-577X; 1873-4979
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2021.130562

•Improved detection limit for ZnO-based gas sensor.•Lower working temperature of ZnO-based gas sensor.•Interchangeable n- and p-type behavior of nitrogen-doped ZnO gas sensor. Nitrogen doped ZnO (N-ZnO) chemiresistive gas sensor was fabricated to improve lower limit of detection (LLOD). N-ZnO was fabricated by mixing ZnO with urea using ball milling method followed by annealing. Both pure ZnO and N-ZnO possess porous morphology. N-ZnO sensor showed a more improved LLOD (20 ppm) toward acetone and ethanol compared to the pure ZnO (LLOD = 1000 ppm) at 150 °C which is the lower limit of working temperature for both of the samples. A new understanding on interchangeable n-type and p-type behaviour of N-ZnO upon exposure to different acetone concentrations was also discussed in this paper.