Room Temperature ZnO and Au-ZnO Quantum Dots Thin Film Gas Sensor Fabrication for Detecting of Volatile Organic Compound Gases

In the current work, nomal ZnO and Au textured ZnO based quantum dot (QD) thin film sensors have been fabricated and characterized. The uniqueness of the present sensor is its operating temperature of 35 degrees C and can be employed to detect minute fraction of organic compound gases like: methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol etc with better response and improved repeatability/stability at (little elevated) room temperature. Sol-gel growths along with spin coating methods have been used in the fabrication of the proposed sensor. To improve the response of the sensors annealing treatment at 350 degrees C temperature is imposed. Different material characteristics like, TEM, XRD, AFM, UV spectroscopy, FTIR and electrical characteristics have been reported for better understanding the morphology, molecular compositions and mechanism of the fabricated sensors.