Excellent CO gas sensor based on Ga-doped ZnO nanoparticles

Sol-gel technique was utilized to prepare pure and Ga-doped ZnO nanopowders. To investigate the morphological and microstructural properties, transmission electron microscopy analysis and X-ray powder diffraction have been used. From microstructure analysis we showed that pure and Ga-doped ZnO nanoparticles were polycrystalline, and exhibited hexagonal wurtzite structure. Chemoresistive devices consisting of a thick layer of synthesized nanoparticles on interdigitated alumina substrates have been fabricated and their electrical and sensing characteristics were investigated. The sensor performances of the samples for carbon monoxide (CO) were reported. The results indicated that doped sensor exhibited higher response and quick response/recovery dynamics compared to a ZnO-based sensor. These interesting sensing properties were discussed on the basis of the characterization data were reported.