abstract
- © 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.Codoped Fe¿Ni zinc oxide (ZnO:Fe:Ni) thin films have been deposited successfully on bare soda-lime glass substrates by the ultrasonic chemical spray technique. Zinc acetylacetonate hydrate was selected as Zn source and nickel acetylacetonate and iron chloride as doping sources. Structural, morphological, and optical characterizations were done for ZnO:Fe:Ni films. The location of the X-ray diffraction peaks of the undoped ZnO films corresponds to wurtzite hexagonal type with the (002) plane normally perpendicular to the substrate surface; however, for codoped ZnO films, the corresponding diffraction peaks fit well to the wurtzite hexagonal type. Moreover, a peak with preferential orientation in the 2¿ position of 38° and another low intensity peak located at 61° corresponding to bcc cubic structure of Fe3O4 were observed. Dramatic changes in the surface morphology in accordance with the doping level were observed for codoped ZnO films. The gas sensing response of undoped and codoped ZnO films was tested with propane and carbon monoxide gases and found to be moderate at low concentrations and significant for higher concentrations.