Synthesis and H2 Gas-Sensing Property of ZnO Nanobelts

ZnO nanostructures have been found to be of wide and diverse applications, such as field effect transistors, dye-sensitized solar cell, photoelectric devices and gas sensors, etc. ZnO nanostructures with different dimension various morphologies, including to nanowires, nanorods, nanotubes, nanoflowers and nanobelts have successfully synthesized by means of different methods.  Comparing with other nanostructures, ZnO nanobelts have specific properties. A simple and effective method for the preparation of ZnO nanobelts was introduced in this paper. By using the electrochemical oxidation and heat treatment method,a layer of ZnO nanobelts thin film was obtained on the surface of Sn. In the first, the Sn-Zn alloy films were anodized in 0.01 M·L^-1 of oxalic acid solution, and then the prepared films were annealed at 500°C for 2h in air ambient. The samples were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results show that the ZnO nanobelts have a thickness of 20 nm, with widths of 200 nm and lengths of 1~5 μm. The H₂ gas sensing property of the ZnO nanobelts was measured in a static apparatus at room temperature. It was found that the ZnO nanobelts exhibited excellent H₂ compounds sensing property.