The effect of an increase in the electrical conductivity of a system of zinc oxide nanorods by a factor of 10^5 during atomic layer deposition of a thin dielectric layer of aluminum oxide was found. It is shown that a change in the electrical conductivity of zinc oxide during atomic layer deposition of aluminum oxide on the surface is also observed for thin polycrystalline layers of zinc oxide. A study of polycrystalline layers of zinc oxide coated with aluminum oxide using ultraviolet and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is presented. Based on the results of photoelectron spectroscopy, two main factors for changing the electrical conductivity are proposed, which consist in the formation of a two-dimensional electron gas at the ZnO/Al2O3 interface and doping of the near-surface region of zinc oxide with aluminum atoms.

A low-temperature technique for the formation of coatings based on ZnO nanorods decorated with colloidal AgInS2 quantum dots is presented. It is shown that ZnO nanocrystals and colloidal AgInS2 quantum dots with a shell of mercaptopropionic acid molecules form a heterojunction. Sensitization of ZnO nanorods with AgInS2 colloidal quantum dots to visible irradiation provides a gas analytical response of the structure to isopropyl alcohol vapor at room temperature under blue LED illumination with a peak wavelength of 460 nm.

This paper presents a study of the gas sensitivity of a nanostructured zinc oxide coating to isopropyl alcohol vapor during heating, ultraviolet irradiation, as well as simultaneous heating and irradiation. Simultaneous heating to 150 °C and ultraviolet irradiation ensures an increase in the sensor layer response. A 10-fold decrease in the power consumption of an ultraviolet light-emitting diode results in a 1.2-fold decrease in the response of the sensor coating. Reducing the operating temperature of a gas sensor with low power consumption and achieving the required sensitivity can provide adsorption sensors integration into portable devices for monitoring ambient air quality.

The features of the formation of zinc stannate nanostructures are considered that are of interest for gas sensors, solar energy and conducting transparent electronics. The samples were obtained by hydrothermal method using zinc oxide nanorods as a template with the variation of synthesis time and investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It is shown that this method can be used to analyze the formation of zinc stannate.

The features of a two-stage synthesis of structured microsystems based on zinc oxide nanorods using ultrasonic spray pyrolysis and a low-temperature hydrothermal method with suppression of nucleation in the bulk of the solution are presented. It is shown that the use of two-stage synthesis provides control over the size and aspect ratio of nanorods. It is proposed to control the concentration of intrinsic surface defects by measuring the photocurrent with irradiation through narrow-band interference light filters.