Precursor controlled morphology of zinc oxide and its sensing behaviour

Effect of various precursors on structural and hence sensing properties of ZnO has been reported in this paper. Zinc chloride, zinc nitrate and zinc acetate have been employed as precursor solutions for the synthesis of zinc oxide nanostructures. The structure and morphology of crystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopy. X-ray study confirmed the polycrystalline nature with hexagonal wurtzite structure of zinc oxide. The field emission scanning electron microscope investigation revealed that samples prepared from different precursors have yielded different morphologies. Gas sensors have been fabricated using synthesized samples of ZnO to examine their response towards different alcohols. The effect of precursors on the morphologies and hence on the sensing behavior of zinc oxide was systematically investigated. Out of all the precursors used, zinc acetate yielded morphology of zinc oxide which exhibited enhanced sensing response towards alcohols.