Synthesis of highly selective mesoporous MgO nanoparticles for efficient detection of trace isobutyraldehyde

Abstract In this study, mesoporous MgO nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using carbon quantum dots as templates and an outstanding cataluminescence sensor system was established based on these nanoparticles. In a particular situation, the constructed sensor demonstrated remarkable linear range was 0.3106–310.6 ppm (R2 = 0.9990) with a low limit of detection of 0.0994 ppm and a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 3. The mesoporous MgO nanoparticle sensor was utilized to analyze the isobutyraldehyde content in real samples. Outstanding recoveries were achieved within range of 83.4–111%, with the relative standard deviations (RSD, n = 7) ranging from 2.0% to 8.2%. Moreover, the 35-day test results showed that the sensor has good stability. Density functional theory and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to research the mechanism of the designed cataluminescence sensor. This work presents a universal methodology for constructing isobutyraldehyde gas sensors with high sensitivity and selectivity, and mesoporous MgO nanoparticles sensors that expand the applications available in the industry and environment analysis.