Fabrication of nanostructured MgO and Zn-doped MgO as an efficient LPG sensing materials operable at room temperature

MgO and 5% Zn-doped MgO nanoparticles were synthesized by applying the solgel method. Characterization techniques like XRD, FTIR, SEM and EDS were employed to characterize the synthesized materials. These characterization techniques contributed to determining the structural, spectroscopic, morphological, chemical and elemental parameters of the synthesized materials. From the XRD images of the materials, the average crystallite size was calculated and found to be 16 nm for MgO and 17.4 nm for 5% Zn-doped MgO. By analyzing the SEM images of the MgO and 5% Zn-doped MgO, it was seen that both materials have the spherical kind of morphology. The surface morphology of the materials also evinces that there are a number of pores available at the surface of the materials which is good in the aspect of gas sensing. Further, LPG sensing of both the synthesized materials was performed and different important parameters of LPG sensing were determined such as sensitivity, response time, recovery time, stability and reproducibility. By scrutinizing the LPG sensing results of both the materials, it was noticed that the 5% Zn-doped MgO nanoparticles might be an effective and competent sensing material to develop an LPG sensor.