Synthesis of ZnO Nanowires for Hydrogen Sensor Application Using Simple Heating Technique

Abstract:

In this work, ZnO nanowires have been successfully grown and developed into a hydrogen gas sensor. The growth technique uses a modified carbothermal reduction at 900 °C to produce ZnO nanowires. This technique has been achieved without using carrier gas and omitted several others parameters. Silicon wafer was used as substrate and gold as catalyst. Elemental analysis and crystal structure were evaluated using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. Nanowires with the smallest diameter of approximately 25 nm were observed. The hydrogen sensor developed showed response to 500 ppm hydrogen at temperature of 250 °C, 175 °C and 100 °C. The highest and lowest sensitivities were achieved at 250 C (~ 80%- 90%) and 100 °C (~ 15%), respectively. The response times were 10 to 15 s whereas the lowest recovery time was 240 s.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volumes 652-654)
• Pages: 272-277
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.652-654.272
• Online since: January 2013
• Authors: Zainal Abidin Ali, W.Ahliah Ismail, Rustam Puteh
• Keywords: Carbothermal Reduction, H₂ Gas Sensor, ZnO Nanowire

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