The effect of different doping elements on the CO gas sensing properties of ZnO nanostructures

The effect on copper and manganese doping in the CO gas sensing properties of nanostructure ZnO thin films was investigated. Undoped, copper and manganese doped ZnO nanostructures (ZnO, CZO and MZO) were succesfully synthesized by a simple chemical synthesis method using parallel reaction station. The structural, morphological and compositional properties of the nanostructures were investigated using X-ray diffractometer, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis, respectively. Structural analysis revealed that all the film were polycrystalline in nature with hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure. SEM images showed the changes of morphology were achieved in the nanostructures depending on doping material. The CO sensing properties of the prepared nanostructures at different temperatures and different gas concentrations were studied. The CZO nanostructure displayed a exhibits superior sensing performances for CO gas at low operating temperature (95 °C). Moreover, the Cu-doped ZnO nanostructure exhibits enhanced CO sensing properties such as higher response, less response time, better selectivity and repeatibility. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.