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pp.623-627
Semiconducting metal oxides have been frequently used as gas sensing materials. While zinc oxide is a popular material for such applications, structures such as nanowires, nanorods and nanotubes, due to their large surface area, are natural candidates for use as gas sensors of higher sensitivity. The compound ZnO has been studied, due to its chemical and thermal stability, for use as an n-type semiconducting gas sensor. ZnO has a large exciton binding energy and a large bandgap energy at room temperature. Also, ZnO is sensitive to toxic and combustible gases. The NO gas properties of zinc oxide-single wall carbon nanotube (ZnO-SWCNT) composites were investigated. Fabrication includes the deposition of porous SWCNTs on thermally oxidized SiO2 substrates followed by sputter deposition of Zn and thermal oxidation at 400˚C in oxygen. The Zn films were controlled to 50 nm thicknesses. The effects of microstructure and gas sensing properties were studied for process optimization through comparison of ZnO-SWCNT composites with ZnO film. The basic sensor response behavior to 10 ppm NO gas were checked at different operation temperatures in the range of 150-300˚C. The highest sensor responses were observed at 300˚C in ZnO film and 250˚C in ZnO-SWCNT composites. The ZnO-SWCNT composite sensor showed a sensor response (~1300%) five times higher than that of pure ZnO thin film sensors at an operation temperature of 250˚C.
