Microwave assisted rapid growth of Mg(OH)2 nanosheet networks for ethanol chemical sensor application

Highlights: ► A facile microwave-assisted synthesis and characterizations of magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) nanosheet networks. ► Fabrication of ethanol sensor based on (Mg(OH)2) nanosheet networks. ► Good sensitivity (∼3.991 μA cm−2 mM−1) and lower detection limit (5 μM). ► This research opens a way to utilize Mg(OH)2 nanostructures for chemical sensors applications. - Abstract: This paper reports a facile microwave-assisted synthesis of magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2) nanosheet networks and their utilization for the fabrication of efficient ethanol chemical sensor. The synthesized nanosheets networks were characterized in terms of their morphological, structural and optical properties using various analysis techniques such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and UV–Vis spectroscopy. The detailed morphological and structural investigations reveal that the synthesized (Mg(OH)2) products are nanosheet networks, grown in high density, and possessing hexagonal crystal structure. The optical band gap of as-synthesized Mg(OH)2 nanosheet networks was examined by UV–Vis absorption spectrum, and found to be 5.76 eV. The synthesized nanosheet networks were used as supporting matrices for the fabrication of I–V technique based efficient ethanol chemical sensor. The fabricated ethanol sensor based on nanosheet networks exhibits good sensitivity (∼3.991 μA cm−2 mM−1) and lower detection limit (5 μM), with linearity (R = 0.9925) in short response time (10.0 s). This work demonstrate that the simply synthesized Mg(OH)2 nanosheet networks can effectively be used for the fabrication of efficient ethanol chemical sensors.