Fabrication and characterization of one-dimensional ZnO nanofibers as Volatile Organic Compounds sensor at room temperature

Abstract

ZnO nanofibers were synthesized via electrospinning technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirms that the ZnO nanofibers are polycrystalline with hexagonal wurtzite structure and average crystallite size∼16.32 nm. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) of the sample revealed a good uniformity and a smooth surface having several micrometers in length of ZnO. Volatile Organic Compound (VOCs) sensing performances of the ZnO nanofibers have been examined for various concentrations of acetone and isopropanol at room temperature. At 150 ppm concentration, ZnO nanofibers show maximum sensitivity (62%) to acetone at room temperature; whereas at the same concentration and temperature, the maximum sensitivity to isopropanol is observed to be (47%). The results show that the synthesized ZnO nanofibers demonstrated very good sensor properties in terms of very fast response and recovery time and also high sensitivity.