Highly enhanced H2 gas sensing characteristics of Co:ZnO nanorods and its mechanism

We report here excellent H 2 gas response property of Co-doped ZnO nanorods (Co:ZnO NRs). Co:ZnO NRs have been synthesized by hydrothermal method by varying the Co content from 0 to 10 mol%. It is found that Co:ZnO NRs with 8 mol% of Co exhibits the highest and faster H 2 gas response ability compared to the undoped ZnO resulting in a ∼5 fold enhancement in the gas response in the presence of air at 150 °C. While the gas response value (S (%) = [(I g -I a )/I a ] × 100, where I a is the current of the sensors in the presence of air only and I g is the current in the presence of certain H 2 concentration) to 3000 ppm H 2 for undoped ZnO NRs’sensor is 11%, an unprecedented high value of 53.7% is obtained for the Co:ZnO with 8 mol% of Co. Based on the electrical current and photoluminescence results, a mechanism for the enhanced H 2 response of Co:ZnO is proposed that involves donor-related oxygen vacancies (V O ) introduced by the Co dopants in the ZnO lattice.