Influence of annealing temperature on theperformance and stability of on-chip hydrothermally grown ZnO nanorod gassensor toward NO2

Nanorod-based gas sensors synthesized at low temperature should generally be stabilized by anneling before usage. However, the influence of annealing on the sensing performance and stability of these nanorods is rarely reported. In this study, we first fabricated gas sensors based on ZnO nanorods grown on-chip on glass substrate using hydrothermal method. Subsequently, these sensors were annealed at either 400 °C, 500 °C, or 600 °C in air for 4 h. The gas-sensing performance of the ZnO nanorods toward NO2 was tested before and after annealing. The sensitivity of the gas sensors to NO2 decreased, but the stability increased with the increase in annealing temperature. Photoluminescence spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction were used to investigate the material structure of ZnO nanorods. Results revealed that the oxygen-atom-related defects in the ZnO lattice in the region close to the surface influenced by annealing process were the most significant factors on the sensing properties and stability of ZnO nanorods