Gamma ray irradiation dose dependent methanol sensing with ZnO nanoparticles

This study reports the influence of gamma ray irradiation of various doses in the range of 1–150 kGy on methanol sensing performance and adsorption kinetics of ZnO nanoparticles based sensors. ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized via sol-gel method and characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. The results revealed that the methanol sensing performance of ZnO nanoparticles based sensor including sensitivity, response and recovery times improved by the gamma ray irradiation. Additionally, Elovich equation, Ritchie's equation and pseudo first-order model were selected to follow the methanol adsorption process. The preliminary result of the methanol adsorption kinetic studies revealed that the adsorption kinetics strongly depends on the gamma irradiation dose. Among other kinetic models investigated, the pseudo first-order equation was the best to describe the adsorption kinetics of methanol on ZnO nanoparticles up to 50 kG dose of gamma ray, as evidenced by the highest correlation coefficients. On the other hand, for higher doses than of 50 kGy of gamma irradiation, our analysis showed that Elovich equation generates a straight line that best fit to methanol adsorption data on ZnO nanoparticles. •Gamma ray irradiation dose effect on methanol sensing.•Gamma ray as an attractive tool for the manipulation of the sensing properties of ZnO.•Room temperature methanol sensing with ZnO nano particles.•Gamma ray dose dependent adsorption kinetics.•Maximum sensitivity for methanol vapor with 50 kGy irradiated sensor.