The properties of ethanol gas sensor based on Ti doped ZnO nanotetrapods

An ethanol gas sensor was fabricated based on Ti doped ZnO nanotetrapods which were prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of ZnO nanotetrapods followed by co-annealing with TiO2 powder. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectra and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the morphology and structure of the as-obtained sample and the ethanol-sensing characteristics of the device were investigated. ZnO:Ti sensors show higher gas response than ZnO counterparts towards 100 ppm ethanol gas at a temperature of 260 degrees C. The recovery times of the devices are 3.1 min for ZnO:Ti and 10.1 min for ZnO, respectively. The enhancement of sensing properties of ZnO:Ti tetrapods indicates the potential application for fabricating low power and highly sensitive gas sensors. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.