The design of hierarchical zinc oxide (ZnO) microstructures modified with silver (Ag) nanoparticles have emerged as an effective approach for improving the hydrogen gas sensing performance. Here, we report a simple, low-cost chemical co-precipitation method to obtain the Ag/ZnO hollow microstructures and morphologically characterized them by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). FESEM images revealed the clear hollow hexagonal tube-like morphology. The existence of Ag in ZnO was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). UV visible absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra were also recorded to observe the effect of Ag nanofiller on the optical properties of ZnO. Furthermore, the gas sensing properties of the as-prepared bare ZnO and Ag/ZnO sensor were investigated. The thoroughly sensing experiments demonstrated that after modification with Ag nanoparticles the ZnO sensor shows superior sensitivity 479 % towards 300 ppm hydrogen gas concentration, whereas 101 % response was noted for the pure ZnO sensor at 250 °C working temperature. Meanwhile, Ag/ZnO hybrids exhibited excellent selectivity, fast response, and recovery time and also obtained a good and stable response signal at 5 ppm H2 exposure, which indicated that the lower concentration measurement is also attainable. This enhancement in the sensing performance of Ag/ZnO structures towards hydrogen is due to the chemical and electronic sensitization effect of Ag nanoparticles. As a result, such microstructure is attributed to more oxygen species and active sites, and it enhances the sensitivity of a sensor. Moreover, this type of hybrid opens a new path and supports the next generation of innovative materials to fabricate highly selective and sensitive H2 gas sensing devices.

An efficient hydrogen gas sensor based on hierarchical Ag/ZnO hollow microstructures

Superhydrophobic ZnO Nanowires: Wettability Mechanisms and Functional Applications

In this study, the effects of different precursor concentrations on the growth and characteristics properties of the zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) synthesized by using modified and conventional chemical bath deposition (CBD) methods were investigated. The morphologic, structural and optical properties of synthesized ZnO NRs with different precursor concentrations were studied using various characterization techniques. The experimental results show that the varying precursor concentration of the reactants has a remarkable and significant effect on the growth and characteristics properties of ZnO NRs. In addition, the characteristic properties of ZnO NRs grown using the modified method showed significantly improved and enhanced properties. The average length of grown ZnO NRs increased with increased precursor concentration; it can be seen that longer ZnO NRs have been investigated using the modified CBD methods. The ZnO NRs synthesized at 0.05 M using the modified method were grown with high aspect ratios than the ZnO NRs grown using conventional means which were 25 and 11, respectively. The growth rate increased with increased precursor concentration; it can be observed that a higher growth rate was seen using the modification CBD method. Furthermore, XRD results for the two cases reveal that the grown ZnO samples were a nanorod-like in shape and possessed a hexagonal wurtzite structure with high crystal quality. No other phases from the impurity were observed. The diffraction peaks along (002) plane became higher, sharper and narrower as precursor concentration increased, suggesting that the crystalline quality of ZnO NRs grown using the modified method was more enhanced and better than conventional methods. However, optical studies show that the transmittance at each concentration was more than two times higher than the transmittance using the modified CBD method. In addition, optical studies demonstrated that the ZnO NRs grown by using modified and conventional methods had a direct Eg in the range of (3.2–3.26) eV and (3.15–3.19) eV, respectively. It was demonstrated in two methods that ZnO NRs grown at a precursor concentration 0.05 M gave the most favorable result, since the NRs had best characteristic properties.

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/10/5/386/pdf

Enhancement of ZnO Nanorods Properties Using Modified Chemical Bath Deposition Method: Effect of Precursor Concentration

Recent advances and trends in nanoparticles based photothermal and photodynamic therapy

Developing various nanosensors with superior performance for accurate and sensitive detection of some physical signals is essential for advances in electronic systems. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a unique semiconductor material with wide bandgap (3.37 eV) and high exciton binding energy (60 meV) at room temperature. ZnO nanostructures have been investigated extensively for possible use as high-performance sensors, due to their excellent optical, piezoelectric and electrochemical properties, as well as the large surface area. In this review, we primarily introduce the morphology and major synthetic methods of ZnO nanomaterials, with a brief discussion of the advantages and weaknesses of each method. Then, we mainly focus on the recent progress in ZnO nanosensors according to the functional classification, including pressure sensor, gas sensor, photoelectric sensor, biosensor and temperature sensor. We provide a comprehensive analysis of the research status and constraints for the development of ZnO nanosensor in each category. Finally, the challenges and future research directions of nanosensors based on ZnO are prospected and summarized. It is of profound significance to research ZnO nanosensors in depth, which will promote the development of artificial intelligence, medical and health, as well as industrial, production.

Progress in ZnO Nanosensors.

Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors (PDs) based on high-quality well-aligned ZnO nanorods (NRs) were fabricated using both modified and conventional chemical bath deposition (CBD) methods. The modified chemical bath deposition (M-CBD) method was made by adding air bubbles to the growth solution during the CBD process. The viability and effectiveness of M-CBD were examined by developing UV PDs based on ZnO NRs. The ZnO nano-seed layer was coated on a glass substrate utilizing radiofrequency (RF) sputtering. The impact of the different growth-times on morphology, growth rate, crystal structure, and optical and chemical properties were investigated systematically using different characterization techniques, such as field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, UV-VIS double beam spectrometer, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), respectively. The Al/ZnO UV PDs based on ZnO nanorods were fabricated with optimum growth conditions through the two methods of preparation. This study showed that the synthesized ZnO NRs using the M-CBD method for different growth times possess better properties than the conventional method under similar deposition conditions. Despite having the highest aspect ratio and growth rate of ZnO NRs, which were found at 4 h growth duration for both methods, the aspect ratio of ZnO NRs using the M-CBD technique was comparatively higher than the conventional CBD method. Besides, the UV PDs fabricated by the M-CBD method at 5 V bias voltage showed high sensitivity, short response time, quick recovery time, high gain, low dark current, and high photocurrent compared with the UV PD device fabricated by the conventional CBD method.

Fabrication and Characterization of High-Quality UV Photodetectors Based ZnO Nanorods Using Traditional and Modified Chemical Bath Deposition Methods.

In the current research, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs) have been grown upon glass-slide substrates by employing the effective chemical bath deposition (CBD) method at low-temperature. ZnO seed-layer has been coated over the whole substrates by using very simplicity successive ionic-layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) approach. The impact of the four different SILAR process cycle for ZnO seed-layer deposition on the characteristic of ZnO NRs have been investigated. The surface morphological, structural, optical properties of the produced ZnO NRs have been studied using several techniques for different SILAR process cycles. Also, the high-quality UV photodetector (PDs) based on ZnO NRs at different SILAR process cycles have been successfully fabricated by applying bias voltage in range of (-5 V to 5 V). The results indicated that the variation of SILAR process cycles have the large and significant impact on the morphological, structural, and optical properties of ZnO NRs. The average size and length of fabricated ZnO NRs were increased with increases the SILAR cycles in the range of 32−98 nm and 291−1210 nm, respectively. The large aspect ratio was noted for ZnO NRs formed at 15 SILAR cycles about 14.93. The growth rate and crystal size of ZnO NRs were increases with increases the SILAR cycles in the range of 1.161–6.722 nm/min and 28.9–94.24 nm/min, respectively. All the samples display a dominant peak at wavenumber of 436.5 cm−1 which is attributed to the E2 active mode and characteristic of the hexagonal phase of ZnO NRs. The energy gap of ZnO NRs was decreased from 3.25 eV to 3.23 eV as the SILAR cycles increases from 5 cycles to 20 cycles. The overall ultraviolet (UV) emission peak centered at 380 nm is found to correlate to near-band emissions (NBE). The ZnO NRs based UV-detector displays repeatable characteristics with a peak photoresponse of 116.6 μA. The UV-sensor based ZnO NRs grown at 15 SILAR process cycles at 5 V bias voltage shows optimal performance responsivity, high photosensitivity, low dark current, quick rise and recovery times were 0.5477 A/W, 3573.57 %, 3.1743 μA, 1.04259 s, and 0.3046 s, respectively.

Optimization and characterization of SILAR synthesized ZnO nanorods for UV photodetector sensor

Effect of different pH values on growth solutions for the ZnO nanostructures

One dimensional ZnO nanorods have been synthesized on flexible substrate. The substrate is Kapton Tape (KT). ZnO Nanorods are produced by using low cost chemical bath deposition method at low temperature. The investigation of the effect of substrate on the morphological, elementary composition, structural characteristics and Raman spectroscopy of ZnO nanorods has been done. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive analysis (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy measurements are employed to examine the morphological, compositional and structural characteristics with hexagonal wurtzite structure of the ZnO nanorods arrays. The results found that the average diameter of ZnO nanorods is found to be closely related to the substrate nature. It is concluded that the substrate can effect on the ZnO nanorods growth remarkably and the selective growth of ZnO nanorods is possible through the choice of the substrate. The crystallite size and the lattice constants of the sy...

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Sabah M. Ahmed

Papers

Enhancement of ZnO Nanorods Properties Using Modified Chemical Bath Deposition Method: Effect of Precursor Concentration

Fabrication and Characterization of High-Quality UV Photodetectors Based ZnO Nanorods Using Traditional and Modified Chemical Bath Deposition Methods.

Optimization and characterization of SILAR synthesized ZnO nanorods for UV photodetector sensor

Effect of different pH values on growth solutions for the ZnO nanostructures

Fabrication, characterization of ZnO nanorods on the flexible substrate (Kapton tape) via chemical bath deposition for UV photodetector applications