title: Growth, characterization and gas sensing properties of nanotetrapod ZnO.
abstract: ZnO nanotetrapods have been obtained in large quantities by carbothermal reduction of ZnO powder. These were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy and photoluminescence. Electron microscopy revealed that the overall size of the tetrapods is 1.5-2 microm and legs are 30-50 nm in diameter. The size of tetrapods as well as diameter of the legs was found to increase with deposition temperature. Photoluminescence spectra revealed that green emission originating from oxygen vacancies overwhelmed that of the near-band-edge ultraviolet peak. A band gap of 3.27 eV was calculated from optical absorption spectra which agreed well with that estimated from PL spectra. Gas sensing properties of tetrapods were investigated and these were found to be 5 times more sensitive to H2S gas at room temperature in comparison to ZnO bulk polycrystalline material.
authors.affiliation: Technical Physics and Prototype Engineering Division, BARC, Mumbai 400085, India.
authors.forename: Manmeet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.forename: Shovit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.forename: Vibha
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Saxena
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Aswal
authors.forename: Mainak
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Deshpande
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Gupta