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Investigations on physical properties of CuO–ZnO couple oxide sprayed thin films for environmental applications (ozone gas sensing and MB degradation)

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Abstract

In the current study, CuO–ZnO coupled oxide thin films were deposited on glass substrates using the spray pyrolysis technique at different substrate temperatures of 250 °C, 300 °C, and 350 °C. The physical properties of the new CuO–ZnO nanocomposite material were investigated using various techniques, including X-ray diffraction analysis, Micro-Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, UV–VIS–NIR spectrophotometry, photoluminescence spectra, and impedance spectroscopy. To incorporate new sensitive materials, the sensor response to ozone (O3) gas was measured at 100 ppb to assess air quality (poor or good) under different biasing voltages and temperatures. The gas sensor exhibited an acceptable response with high response and recovery times. The optimal working conditions were determined to be 260 °C and 0.5 V. The gas-sensing mechanism was also investigated in detail. Additionally, the CuO–ZnO coupled oxide demonstrated higher photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Methylene Blue. The photocatalytic activity and gas-sensing mechanisms were also investigated in detail.

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Data availability

The data and materials of this study are available from the corresponding author, HAJJI MOEZ on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de Physique, LR99ES13 Laboratoire de Physique de La Matière Condensée (LPMC), Faculté Des Sciences de Tunis, Université Tunis El Manar, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

    Moez Hajji, Samar Dabbabi, Mejda Ajili, Neila Jebbari & Najoua Turki Kamoun

  2. Centro Singular de Investigación en Tecnoloxías de Información (CiTIUS), Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Antonio Garcia Loureiro

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  1. Moez Hajji
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by HM, SD, MA, NJ, AGL and NK. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MH and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Moez Hajji.

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Hajji, M., Dabbabi, S., Ajili, M. et al. Investigations on physical properties of CuO–ZnO couple oxide sprayed thin films for environmental applications (ozone gas sensing and MB degradation). J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 35, 663 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-024-12427-5

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