Study on Ni-doped ZnO films as gas sensors

Ni doped ZnO films were obtained by spin coating, using zinc acetate and nickel acetate as starting materials and N,N-dimethylformamide as solvent. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicates that, spin coated films posses a polycrystalline structure. Ni doped ZnO films are single phase and no trace of nickel metal or binary zinc nickel phases are observed. The values of some structural parameters (crystallite size, surface roughness) are varying with the variation of Ni concentration. The sensitivity of Ni:ZnO films, at three different gasses (ammonia, liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol) was investigated. Obtained results indicate that our films are most sensitive to ammonia, the operating temperature was found to be 190 °C and the response time is 35 s. The gas sensitivity was found to depend on the Ni concentration in ZnO films.