In the present investigations, the samples such as zinc oxide, tin oxide, vanadium oxide and their ternary combinations prepared by hydrothermal route were characterised using the state-of-the-art facilities and were systematically analysed. The interface properties between the grain and grain boundaries of these oxides were studied using Conductive atomic force microscopic (CAFM) studies. From the detailed investigations on topography and I-V characteristics, it is revealed that, zinc-tin-vanadium oxide nanocomposite with smaller barrier height of 0.189 eV exhibited pronounced response magnitude of 98.96 % at a faster rate of 32 s at room temperature. The outstanding ethanol sensing property of the ternary nanocomposite is attributed to the hierarchical morphology with large surface area, the formation of heterojunction at the interface, tuning the schottky barrier height, depletion layer manipulation and the electronic effects.

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