Properties of NiO nanostructured growth using thermal dry oxidation of nickel metal thin film for hydrogen gas sensing at room temperature

A highly qualitative NiO nanostructure was synthesized using thermal dry oxidation of metallic Ni thin films on ITO/glass using the RF sputtering technique. The deposited nickel thin films were oxidized in air ambient at 550 °C inside a furnace. The structural and surface morphologies, and the electrical and gas sensing properties of the NiO nanostructure were examined. An x-ray diffraction analysis demonstrated that the NiO nanostructure has a cubic structure with orientation of the most intense peak at (2 0 0), and shows good crystalline quality. Finite-element scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy results revealed O and Ni present in the treated samples, indicating a pure NiO nanostructure composition obtained with high porosity. The electrical properties of the oxidize Ni thin films showed a p-type NiO thin film semiconductor. A hydrogen gas sensing measurement was made at different operating temperatures and different gas concentrations with a detection limit of 30 ppm concentration. The sensor device shows great sensing properties with an excellent sensitivity (310%) at room temperature, which decreases with an increase in the operating temperature. Superfast response and recovery times of 6 and 0.5 s, respectively, were observed with the device at 150 °C operating temperature.