Fabrication of hierarchical Sn-doped ZnO nanorod arrays through sonicated sol-gel immersion for room temperature, resistive-type humidity sensor applications

• Published in: Ceramics International
• Main Author: Ismail A.S.; Mamat M.H.; Md Sin N.D.; Malek M.F.; Zoolfakar A.S.; Suriani A.B.; Mohamed A.; Ahmad M.K.; Rusop M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 2016
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84960539840&doi=10.1016%2fj.ceramint.2016.03.071&partnerID=40&md5=f33d5803c3262cd291dd0a7db868f26b
• ISSN: 2728842
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.03.071

Hierarchical tin (Sn)-doped zinc-oxide (ZnO) nanorod arrays (SZO) were deposited onto Al-doped ZnO-coated glass substrate by using a sonicated sol-gel immersion method for resistive-type humidity sensor applications. X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that the deposited SZO arrays exhibit a wurtzite structure. SZO possessed smaller average diameter, crystallite size, and thickness than the undoped sample did. The SZO film also exhibited compressive strain and tensile stress values of -0.033% and 77 MPa, respectively. Our result showed the sensitivity of the SZO based-sensor improved compared with that of the undoped ZnO, with values of 3.41 and 1.41 at 40% to 70% RH and 70% to 90% RH, respectively. The response and recovery times of the SZO based humidity sensor improved to 230 and 30 s, respectively. All these results indicated that SZO had high potential for humidity-sensor applications. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.