Jagadish

Abstract

0.5M Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nano-particle thin films were deposited on cleaned glass substrates by dip coating technique with 350 mm/min dipping speed. These films were optically characterized using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The band gap of film was found to be 3.11 eV having thickness 903.176 nm. Thickness was measured using a Swanepoel method. The refractive index of ZnO was also measured and its value was found to be 2.091 -1.532 in the wavelength of 350- 800 nm. The prepared ZnO thin film was used to detect ethanol vapor in the temperature range 180 to 300 ºC. The highest response of 3.4 was found at the operating temperature of 240 ºC for 500 ppm of ethanol vapor. Corresponding response and recovery times were found as 9.82 and 16.33 sec respectively.