Development of polyaniline/ZnO-Ru nanocomposite as a potential LPG sensing material operable at room temperature

摘要

Nanostructured ZnO and Ru-doped ZnO (ZnO-Ru) were synthesized via sol-gel technique, while PANI/ZnO-Ru nanocomposite was synthesized via in-situ polymerization technique. All the synthesized materials were probed by utilizing numerous characterization techniques like X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The average crystallite size of the synthesized materials was calculated with the help of their XRD patterns using Debye-Scherrer formula. These were 37 nm, 30 nm and 25 nm for ZnO, ZnO-Ru and PANI/ZnO-Ru, respectively. The SEM images suggested that all the synthesized materials possessed porous nature which were further tested for LPG sensing application. Amongst all the synthesized materials, PANI/ZnO-Ru nanocomposite evinced the highest LPG sensitivity (1.22) along with greater stability (97%), the lowest response time (28 s) and recovery time (45 s).