ZnO doped single wall carbon nanotube as an active medium for gas sensor and solar absorber

In this paper, we reported the synthesis of high-quality ZnO-doped SWCNT (ZnO:SWCNT) nanostructures by perfume spray pyrolysis on copper substrate. The synthesized ZnO:SWCNT nanoparticle explored for the optoelectronic properties and its potential application in photonic devices. In this investigation, the ZnO:SWCNT was blended with the solar absorber of thin film organic solar cells which is found to be a successful mechanism in enhancing the photo-generated current in the devices. The best device performance was found at 6% concentration of ZnO:SWCNT by weight in the solution phase of the solar absorber. Furthermore, the pure ZnO:SWCNT as a gas sensor shows good sensitivity to ethanol at different gas loading in ppm. We observed for the first time a high gas sensing activity of ZnO:SWCNT powder which is related to surface state, oxygen adsorption, grain size and lattice defects. The article discusses about the techniques employed during gas sensing measurements using various functionalization strategies.