Ethanol Sensing Properties of Nanosheets ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Chemical Bath Deposition

Nanosheets ZnO thin films were successfully fabricated on alumina substrate by chemical bath deposition method using Zinc Nitrate Tetra hydrate as precursor. Films were annealed at 300 °C for 30 minutes and observed by X‐Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy Dispersive X‐Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) to know crystal phase and structure, surface morphology, and elemental composition respectively. The gas sensing performance of ZnO thin films was studied on exposure to ethanol gas sensing in various concentration (300 and 600 ppm). The films showed higher response towards ethanol gas sensing at optimized temperature of 250 °C and exhibited excellent sensitivity of 62.45% upon exposure 300 ppm and 69% upon exposure of 600 ppm ethanol gas sensing. Further, the response and recovery times of ZnO thin films to ethanol become shorter at higher operating temperatures. A possible mechanism of ethanol sensing has been explained.