Chemical route to synthesis of mesoporous ZnO thin films and their liquefied petroleum gas sensor performance

In the present work, we report base free chemical bath deposition (CBD) of mesoporous zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films from urea containing bath for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sensor application. Mesoporous morphology with average pore size ∼2 μm and wurtzite crystal structure are confirmed from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The surface of ZnO is hydrophobic with water contact angle 128 ± 1°. Optical study reveals the presence of direct bad gap with energy 3.24 eV. The gas sensing study reveals the mesoporous ZnO is highly selective towards LPG as compared with CO2 and maximum LPG response of 52% is achieved upon the exposure of 3900 ppm LPG at 573 K as well as good reproducibility and short response/recovery times.

► Low temperature synthesis of mesoporous ZnO thin films by CBD method with urea containing bath.
► Wurtzite crystal structure of mesoporous ZnO has been confirmed from the XRD study.
► SEM images reveal the formation of hydrophobic mesoporous ZnO thin films.
► Maximum LPG response of 52% has been achieved with high stability.