The present work reports an approach of hydrothermal growth of ZnO nanorods, which simplifies the production of low cost films with controlled morphology for H2S gas sensor application. The prepared ZnO nanorods exhibit a hexagonal wurtzite phase analyzed by the X-ray diffraction analysis. The FTIR spectra provide information that the band located between 465-570 cm-1 corresponds to the stretching bond of Zn-O, which confirms the creation of ZnO. PL spectroscopic studies showed that the doping of Ag NPs and f-MWCNT in the ZnO matrix leads to the tuning of the bandgap. The SEM analysis showed the morphology of ZnO was the nanorods. The nanocomposites Ag/ZnO and F-MWCNT/ZnO which prepared, separately were tested for H2S gas at low (2 ppm) and high (50 ppm) concentrations. ZnO nanorods films showed a sensitivity of 14.71% for pure ZnO with a fast response time of 25.2 sec and recovery time of 33.3 sec towards 2 ppm H2S. For Ag NPs/ZnO and f-MWCNTs/ZnO, sensors showed a significant sensitivity of 27.95 and 42.39 % at ~150 °C with a response time and recovery time less than pure ZnO. The ZnO sensor showed a higher sensitivity at ~150 °C for both Ag NPs and F-MWCNTs at high gas concentration, where it was 35.085 and 58.89% respectively.
