Effect of Al and Mg Doping on Reducing Gases Detection of ZnO Nanoparticles
Soumaya Jaballah,
Yazeed Alaskar,
Ibrahim AlShunaifi,
Imed Ghiloufi,
Giovanni Neri,
Chaker Bouzidi,
Hassen Dahman,
Lassaad El Mir
Affiliations
Soumaya Jaballah
Laboratory of Physics of Materials and Nanomaterials Applied at Environment (LaPhyMNE), Faculty of Sciences in Gabes, Gabes University, Gabes 6072, Tunisia
Yazeed Alaskar
King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Material Science Research Institute, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia
Ibrahim AlShunaifi
King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), National Center for Combustion & Plasma Technology, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia
Imed Ghiloufi
Laboratory of Physics of Materials and Nanomaterials Applied at Environment (LaPhyMNE), Faculty of Sciences in Gabes, Gabes University, Gabes 6072, Tunisia
Giovanni Neri
Department of Engineering, University of Messina, 98166 Messina, Italy
Chaker Bouzidi
National Center for Research in Materials Sciences, Technopole Borj Cédria, Laboratory of Physico-Chemistry of Mineral Materials and Their Applications, BP 73, Soliman 8027, Tunisia
Hassen Dahman
Laboratory of Physics of Materials and Nanomaterials Applied at Environment (LaPhyMNE), Faculty of Sciences in Gabes, Gabes University, Gabes 6072, Tunisia
Lassaad El Mir
Laboratory of Physics of Materials and Nanomaterials Applied at Environment (LaPhyMNE), Faculty of Sciences in Gabes, Gabes University, Gabes 6072, Tunisia
In this work, the main objective is to enhance the gas sensing capability through investigating the effect of Al and Mg doping on ZnO based sensors. ZnO, Mg1% doped ZnO, Al5% doped ZnO and (Al5%, Mg1%) co-doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by a modified sol-gel method. The structural characterization showed the hexagonal crystalline structure of the prepared samples. Morphological characterizations confirmed the nanometric sizes of the NPs (27–57 nm) and elemental composition investigation proved the existence of Al and Mg with low concentrations. The optical characterization showed the high absorbance of the synthesized samples in the UV range. The gas sensing performances of the synthesized samples, prepared in the form of thick films, were investigated. Sensing tests demonstrated the high influence of the Al and Mg on the sensing performances towards H2 and CO gas, respectively. The 5A1MZO-based sensor exhibits high sensitivity and low detection limits to H2 (2 and 2 (at 250 °C) towards CO.
