• Shahkhatuni, Gevorg
• Aleksanyan, Mikayel
• Shahnazaryan, Gohar
• Simonyan, Zarine
• Aroutiounian, Vladimir

Abstract

<jats:p>In this paper, the ZnO&lt;La&gt; target was synthesized by the solid-state reaction method and a nanostructured thin film was deposited by the RF (radio frequency) magnetron sputtering method on a Multi-Sensor-Platform. The obtained ZnO&lt;La&gt; nanostructured film was investigated as the sensing material. Energy-Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis indicated the existence of La in the synthesized ZnO&lt;La&gt; material. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of the film showed the grain sizes in the range of 20–40 nm. Sensor performance characteristics such as a dynamic response, response and recovery times, and ethanol detection range were investigated at 50–300 °C. A sensitivity was observed at extremely low concentrations of ethanol (0.7 ppm). The minimum response and recovery times of the sensor corresponding to 675 ppm ethanol vapor concentration at 250 °C were found to be 14 s and 61 s, respectively. The sensor showed a high response, good selectivity, fast response/recovery behavior, excellent repeatability toward ethanol vapor, and low sensitivity toward humidity. These characteristics enable the use of a ZnO&lt;La&gt; based sensor for ethanol detecting applications.</jats:p>

Topics

• grain
• grain size
• scanning electron microscopy
• thin film
• Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy