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Magnesium oxide nanocubes deposited on an overhead projector sheet: synthesis and resistivity-based hydrogen sensing capability

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Abstract

This work reports the growth of magnesium oxide (MgO) nanocubes by thermal chemical vapor deposition at various temperatures. The MgO nanocubes were investigated by X-ray diffraction, FESEM, EDAX, TEM and FTIR studies to study its various properties. The material is well-dispersed and has a cubical shape with an average size of 16 nm. XRD shows a face cubic centered structure, and SEM and TEM reveal nanocube morphology. The mechanism of the growth process is briefly detailed. The MgO nanocubes, if deposited on an overhead projector sheet, can be used as a chemoresistive sensor for hydrogen at a constant temperature of typically 200 °C and an applied voltage of 5 V. The sensor can detect hydrogen in the 3000 to 5000 ppm concentration range, and the lowest detectable concentration (at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3) is 3000 ppm.

Magnesium oxide (MgO) nanocubes were prepared using chemical vapor deposition technique on an alumina boat. The grown MgO nanocubes were studied as a gas sensor on an overhead projector sheet as substrate to detect hydrogen and the sensitivity is satisfactory.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Mount Carmel College, Bengaluru, India. The authors would like to thank St. Joseph College, Bengaluru for the XRD and FTIR study.

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Author notes

  1. Uma Venkatraman,Chella Santhosh, Amit Bhatnagar and Soon Kwan Jeong contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nanoscience and Technology, Mount Carmel college, Bengaluru, 560052, India

    Natarajan Pradeep & Chaitra Venkatachalaiah

  2. Department of Electronics, Mount Carmel college, Bengaluru, 560052, India

    Uma Venkatraman

  3. Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, FI-70211, Kuopio, Finland

    Chella Santhosh & Amit Bhatnagar

  4. Green Energy Process Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Research, 152, Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34129, Republic of Korea

    Soon Kwan Jeong

  5. Centre for Nanotechnology Research, VIT University, Vellore, 632014, India

    Andrews Nirmala Grace

Authors
  1. Natarajan Pradeep
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  2. Chaitra Venkatachalaiah
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  3. Uma Venkatraman
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  4. Chella Santhosh
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  5. Amit Bhatnagar
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  6. Soon Kwan Jeong
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  7. Andrews Nirmala Grace
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Correspondence to Andrews Nirmala Grace.

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Pradeep, N., Venkatachalaiah, C., Venkatraman, U. et al. Magnesium oxide nanocubes deposited on an overhead projector sheet: synthesis and resistivity-based hydrogen sensing capability. Microchim Acta 184, 3349–3355 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-017-2348-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-017-2348-3

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