Sains
Malaysiana 52(11)(2023): 3253-3260
http://doi.org/10.17576/jsm-2023-5211-17
The Characteristic of pH Sensing of Potentiometric on Zinc
Oxide and Aluminium-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanostructures
(Ciri Penderiaan pH Potensiometrik pada Nanostruktur Zink Oksida dan Zink Oksida Terdop Aluminium)
AIN ZAFIRAH KAMARUDDIN1, LIM KAR KENG2,*,
MUHAMMAD AZMI ABDUL HAMID1, NAIF H. AL-HARDAN1, HUDA
ABDULLAH3 & ENSAF MOHAMMED AL-KHALQI4
1Department
of Applied Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
2School of
Liberal Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor,
Malaysia
3Department
of Electrical, Electronics and System Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and
Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor,
Malaysia
4Physics
Department, Faculty of Applied Science, Thamar University, 87246 Dhamar, Yemen
Diserahkan: 11 Mei 2023/Diterima: 18 Oktober 2023
Abstract
Numerous
investigations have been conducted to increase the sensitivity and stability of
metal oxide semiconductors as pH-sensing membranes. This paper will describe
the pH sensing and characterisation of zinc oxide (ZnO) and aluminium-doped
zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) as potentiometric pH sensors. The hydrothermal technique
was used to grow ZnO and ZnO:Al thin film nanostructures with doping
concentrations of 1, 3, and 5 at% Al on the cleaned ITO substrates. The pH
potentiometric sensing was performed in a wide pH range of 4-12 and produced
sensitivity, including stability of the nanostructures. The prepared samples
were also characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), field effect
scanning electron microscope (FESEM), and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) to explore
the influence of aluminium concentration on structural and morphology
characteristics and then prepared as electrodes for pH sensing. From the XRD
result, the sharp peaks and high peak intensities demonstrated well crystalline
of the synthesized ZnO nanorods. Furthermore, the FESEM shows the growth of
array nanorods perpendicular over the surface of ITO. The sensitivity of the pH
sensor with 3 at% ZnO:Al exhibits higher sensitivity (43.80 mV/pH) and larger
linearity (0.9507).
Keywords: Aluminium-doped zinc oxide; doping process;
hydrothermal process; pH-sensing; ZnO nanostructures
Abstrak
Banyak
kajian telah dijalankan untuk meningkatkan sensitiviti dan kestabilan
semikonduktor oksida logam sebagai membran penderia pH. Kertas ini akan
menerangkan penderiaan pH dan pencirian zink oksida (ZnO) serta zink oksida
terdop aluminium (ZnO:Al) sebagai penderia pH potensiometrik. Teknik hidroterma
digunakan untuk menumbuhkan nanostruktur filem nipis ZnO dan ZnO terdop Al
(ZnO:Al) dengan kepekatan dopan 1, 3 dan 5 at% di atas substrat ITO yang telah
dibersihkan. Penderiaan pH potensiometrik dilakukan dalam julat pH yang luas
iaitu 4-12 dan menghasilkan sensitiviti termasuk kestabilan nanostruktur.
Sampel yang disediakan juga dicirikan oleh analisis pembelauan sinar-X (XRD),
mikroskop elektron pengimbasan kesan medan (FESEM), sinar-X penyebaran tenaga
(EDX) untuk meneroka pengaruh kepekatan aluminium terhadap ciri-ciri struktur
dan morfologi dan kemudian disediakan sebagai elektrod untuk pengesanan pH.
Daripada keputusan XRD, kemuncak tajam dan keamatan puncak yang tinggi
menunjukkan hablur nanorod ZnO disintesis dengan baik. Tambahan pula, FESEM
mendedahkan pertumbuhan tatasusunan nanorod berserenjang di atas permukaan ITO.
Sensitiviti penderia pH pada 3 at% ZnO:Al menunjukkan sensitiviti yang lebih
tinggi (43.80 mV/pH) dan lineariti yang lebih besar (0.9507).
Kata kunci: Kaedah hidroterma; nanostruktur ZnO; pengesanan
pH; proses pengedopan; zink oksida terdop aluminium
RUJUKAN
Agarwal, M.B., Malaidurai, M., Sharma, A. & Thangavel,
R. 2020. Effect of Al doping on hydrothermal growth and physical properties of
doped ZnO nanoarrays for optoelectronic applications. Materials Today: Proceedings 21: 1781-1786.
Ahmed, S.M. 2018. Characterization of Al-doped ZnO nanorods
grown by chemical bath deposition method. Innovaciencia
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales 6(1): 1-9.
Al Farsi, B., Al Marzouqi, F., Al-Maashani, M., Souier,
M.T., Tay Zar Myint, M. & Al-Abri, M.Z. 2021. Rapid microwave-assisted
fabrication of Al-doped zinc oxide nanorods on a glass substrate for
photocatalytic degradation of phenol under visible light irradiation. Materials Science and Engineering B:
Solid-State Materials for Advanced Technology 264: 114977.
Al-Hardan, N.H., Azmi Abdul Hamid, M., Firdaus-Raih, M.
& Kar Keng, L. 2021. Aluminium -
Modified Zno nanoparticles synthesized through Co-precipitation. Jurnal
Teknologi 2: 1-6.
Al-Hardan, N.H., Hamid, M.A.A., Jalar, A., Shamsudin, R.
& Othman, N.K. 2017. Synthesis of magnesium-doped ZnO rods via hydrothermal
method: A study of the structural and optical properties. ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology 6(9): P571-P577.
Al-Khalqi, E.M., Hamid, M.A.A., Al-Hardan, N.H., Keng, L.K.
& Jalar, A. 2022. Magnesium-doped ZnO nanorod
Electrolyte–Insulator–Semiconductor (EIS) sensor for detecting organic
solvents. IEEE Sensors Journal 22(12): 11783-11790.
Al-Khalqi, E.M., Hamid, M.A.A., Al-Hardan, N.H. & Keng,
L.K. 2021a. Highly sensitive magnesium-doped zno nanorod ph sensors based on
electrolyte–insulator–semiconductor (Eis) sensors. Sensors 21(6): 1-16.
Al-Khalqi, E.M., Hamid, M.A.A., Shamsudin, R., Al-Hardan,
N.H., Jalar, A. & Keng, L.K. 2021b. Zinc oxide nanorod Electrolyte-Insulator-
Semiconductor sensor for enhanced 2-methoxyethanol selectivity. IEEE Sensors Journal 21(5): 6234-6240.
Alkahlout, A., Al Dahoudi, N., Grobelsek, I., Jilavi, M.
& de Oliveira, P.W. 2014. Synthesis and characterization of aluminum doped
zinc oxide nanostructures via hydrothermal route. Journal of Materials 2014: 235638.
Belkhaoui, C., Mzabi, N., Smaoui, H. & Daniel, P. 2019.
Enhancing the structural, optical and electrical properties of ZnO nanopowders
through (Al + Mn) doping. Results
in Physics 12(January): 1686-1696.
Ghazai, A.J., Salman, E.A. & Jabbar, Z.A. 2016. Effect
of aluminum doping on zinc oxide thin film properties synthesis by spin coating
method. American Scientific Research
Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS) 26(3): 202-211.
Hashim, U., Fathil, M.F.M., Arshad, M.K.M., Gopinath, S.C.B.
& Uda, M.N.A. 2017. Characterization of zinc oxide thin film for pH
detector. AIP Conference Proceedings.
p. 1808.
Hsu, C.H. & Chen, D.H. 2010. Synthesis and conductivity
enhancement of Al-doped ZnO nanorod array thin films. Nanotechnology 21: 285603.
Kao, C-H., Liu,
Y-W., Kuo, C-C., Chan, S-M., Wang, D-Y., Lin, Y.H., Lee, M.L. & Chen, H.
2022. Comparison of ZnO, Al2O3, AlZnO, and Al2O3-Doped
ZnO Sensing membrane applied in electrolyte-insulator-semiconductor
structures. Membranes 12(2): 168.
Kim, H., Piqué, A., Horwitz, J.S., Murata, H., Kafafi, Z.H.,
Gilmore, C.M. & Chrisey, D.B. 2000. Effect of aluminum doping on zinc oxide
thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition for organic light-emitting devices. Thin Solid Films 377-378: 798-802.
Kumar, A., Naveen Kumar S.K., Aniley, A.A., Fernandez, R.E.
& Bhansali, S. 2019. Hydrothermal growth of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs)
on screen printed IDEs for pH measurement application. Journal of The Electrochemical Society 166(9): B3264-B3270.
Lee, C.H., Chuang, W.Y., Lin, S.H., Wu, W.J. & Lin, C.T.
2013. A printable humidity sensing material based on conductive polymer and
nanoparticles composites. Japanese
Journal of Applied Physics 52: 05DA08.
Liu, H., Zhou, Q., Zhang, Q., Hong, C., Xu, L., Jin, L.
& Chen, W. 2017. Synthesis, characterization and enhanced sensing
properties of a NiO/ZnO p–n junctions sensor for the SF6 decomposition
byproducts SO2, SO2F2, and SOF2. Sensors (Basel) 17(4): 913.
Mishra, P.N., Mishra, P.K. & Pathak, D. 2022. The
influence of Al doping on the optical characteristics of ZnO nanopowders
obtained by the low-cost sol-gel method. Chemistry 4(4): 1136-1146.
Naik, G.V., Liu, J., Kildishev, A.V., Shalaev, V.M. &
Boltasseva, A. 2012. Demonstration of Al:ZnO as a plasmonic component for
near-infrared metamaterials. Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109(23): 8834-8838.
Peng, H., Wang, J., Lv, S., Wen, J. & Chen, J.F. 2015.
Synthesis and characterization of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles prepared by a
high-gravity precipitation method. Ceramics
International 41(10): 14340-14349.
Porwal, A., Shafi, N. & Sahu, C. 2022. Fabrication and
pH sensing characteristics measurement of back gate ZnO thin film planar FET. Silicon 14(17): 11687-11698.
Rayathulhan, R., Sodipo, B.K. & Aziz, A.A. 2017.
Nucleation and growth of zinc oxide nanorods directly on metal wire by
sonochemical method. Ultrasonics
Sonochemistry 35: 270-275.
Tsai, Y.T., Chang, S.J., Ji, L.W., Hsiao, Y.J. & Tang,
I.T. 2019. Fast detection and flexible microfluidic pH sensors based on
Al-Doped ZnO nanosheets with a novel morphology. ACS Omega 4(22): 19847-19855.
Vavale, S.D., Pawar, S.G., Deshmukh, D.H. & Deshmukh,
H.P. 2018. Hydrothermal method for synthesis of different nanostructure metal
oxide thin film. International Journal of
Innovative Knowledge Concepts 6(11): 126-129.
Wang, J.L., Yang, P.Y., Hsieh, T.Y., Hwang, C.C. &
Juang, M.H. 2013. pH-sensing characteristics of hydrothermal Al-doped ZnO
nanostructures. Journal of Nanomaterials 2013: 152079.
Yang, P-H., Chang, Y-S. & Chan, C-T. 2022. ZnO and AZO
film potentiometric pH sensors based on flexible printed circuit board. Chemosensors 10(8): 293.
Yang, P.-Y., Wang, J.-L., Chiu, P.-C., Chou, J.-C., Chen, C.-W., Li, H.-H. & Cheng, H.-C. 2011. pH Sensing Characteristics of Extended-Gate Field-Effect Transistor Based on Al-Doped ZnO Nanostructures Hydrothermally Synthesized at Low Temperatures. IEEE Electron Device Letters 32(11): 1603-1605.
Young, S.J., Lai, L.T. & Tang, W.L. 2019. Improving the
performance of pH sensors with one-dimensional ZnO nanostructures. IEEE Sensors Journal 19(23):
10972-10976.
Yue, J., Li, L., Cao, L., Zan, M., Yang, D., Wang, Z.,
Chang, Z., Mei, Q., Miao, P. & Dong, W.F. 2019. Two-step hydrothermal
preparation of carbon dots for calcium ion detection. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 11(47): 44566-44572.
Zhang, Y., Wei, T., Dong, W., Huang, C., Zhang, K., Sun, Y.,
Chen, X. & Dai, N. 2013. Near-perfect infrared absorption from dielectric
multilayer of plasmonic aluminum-doped zinc oxide. Applied Physics Letters 102: 213177.
Zheng, H., Zhang, R.J., Li, D.H., Chen, X., Wang, S.Y.,
Zheng, Y.X., Li, M.J., Hu, Z.G., Dai, N. & Chen, L.Y. 2018. Optical
properties of Al-doped ZnO films in the infrared region and their absorption
applications. Nanoscale Research Letters 13: 149.
*Pengarang
untuk surat-menyurat; email: kk@ukm.edu.my
|