Biominerals doped nanocrystalline nickel oxide as efficient humidity sensor: A green approach

The simple and green method is adopted for the preparation of biominerals (derived from the Hygrophila spinosa T. Anders plant seeds) doped nanocrystalline NiO. The prepared samples were subjected to instrumental analysis such as XRD, FT-IR, HR-SEM, EDX, UV-vis-DRS techniques. The surface area of all the samples was calculated from the Williamson-Hall's plot. The humidity sensitivity factor (S-f) of the prepared samples was evaluated by two probe dc electrical resistance method at different relative humidity levels. The change in the resistance was observed for the entire sensor samples except pure NiO (NHO). Compared to all the other composition, HST of 0.5% in NiO (NH2 sample) enhances the sensitivity factor (S-f) of about 90,000. The NH2 sample exhibited good linearity, reproducibility and response and recovery time about 210 +/- 5s and 232 +/- 4s, respectively. It is found that the sensitivity largely depends on composition, crystallite size and surface area. (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.