Hydrothermal Synthesis of Al-Doped ZnO with a Novel Cactus Microstructure and Their Gas Sensitivity Research

Al-Doped ZnO (AZO) nanocrystals with a novel cactus morphology have been successfully synthesized by a facile and efficient hydrothermal method. The crystal structure, surface morphology and chemical composition of the samples were determined by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with an energy-dispersive X-ray analyzer, indicating that the presence of a small quantity of Al ions can greatly affect the morphology of the ZnO nanostructures. Further, the heater gas sensors were fabricated and an investigation of gas sensing properties has been carried out. The sensors based AZO powders exhibited distinctive selectivity, good response repeatability, and preferable long-term stability to ethanol. This confirms that AZO has potential applications in high-performance gas sensing materials.