Hydrogen gas sensor based on metal oxide nanoparticles decorated graphene transistor.

In this work, in order to enhance the performance of graphene gas sensors, graphene and metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) are combined to be utilized for high selectivity and fast response gas detection. Whether at the relatively optimal temperature or even room temperature, our gas sensors based on graphene transistors, decorated with SnO2 NPs, exhibit fast response and short recovery times (∼1 seconds) at 50 °C when the hydrogen concentration is 100 ppm. Specifically, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and conductive atomic force microscopy are employed to explore the interface properties between graphene and SnO2 NPs. Through the complimentary characterization, a mechanism based on charge transfer and band alignment is elucidated to explain the physical originality of these graphene gas sensors: high carrier mobility of graphene and small energy barrier between graphene and SnO2 NPs have ensured a fast response and a high sensitivity and selectivity of the devices. Generally, these gas sensors will facilitate the rapid development of next-generation hydrogen gas detection.

[1]  S. S. Bhatti,et al.  CuO-doped SnO2 thin films as hydrogen sulfide gas sensor , 2003 .

[2]  A. Mahmood,et al.  Production, properties and potential of graphene , 2010, 1002.0370.

[3]  T. Seiyama,et al.  A New Detector for Gaseous Components Using Semiconductive Thin Films. , 1962 .

[4]  Norio Miura,et al.  Impedancemetric gas sensor based on zirconia solid electrolyte and oxide sensing electrode for detecting total NOx at high temperature , 2003 .

[5]  Yigal Komem,et al.  The effect of grain size on the sensitivity of nanocrystalline metal-oxide gas sensors , 2004 .

[6]  Joseph R. Stetter,et al.  Kinetics of indium oxide-based thin film gas sensor response: The role of “redox” and adsorption/desorption processes in gas sensing effects , 2007 .

[7]  G. L. Sharma,et al.  Mechanism in Nb doped titania oxygen gas sensor , 1998 .

[8]  Lei Liao,et al.  Single CeO2 Nanowire Gas Sensor Supported with Pt Nanocrystals : Gas Sensitivity, Surface Bond States, and Chemical Mechanism , 2008 .

[9]  Seon Joo Park,et al.  Fabrication of ultrafine metal-oxide-decorated carbon nanofibers for DMMP sensor application. , 2011, ACS nano.

[10]  S. Shishiyanu,et al.  Sensing characteristics of tin-doped ZnO thin films as NO2 gas sensor , 2005 .

[11]  N. Yamazoe.  New approaches for improving semiconductor gas sensors , 1991 .

[12]  Functional characterization of SrTiO3 tunnel barriers by conducting atomic force microscopy , 2006 .

[13]  Dejun Fu,et al.  The sensitivity of gas sensor based on single ZnO nanowire modulated by helium ion radiation , 2007 .

[14]  Zeng Wen,et al.  Gas-sensing properties of SnO2–TiO2-based sensor for volatile organic compound gas and its sensing mechanism , 2010 .

[15]  P. Bhattacharyya,et al.  Recent developments on graphene and graphene oxide based solid state gas sensors , 2012 .

[16]  Xing’ao Li,et al.  Synthesis of high-performance graphene nanosheets by thermal reduction of graphene oxide , 2011 .

[17]  D. Fray,et al.  Development of nanocrystalline TiO2–Er2O3 and TiO2–Ta2O5 thin film gas sensors: Controlling the physical and sensing properties , 2009 .

[18]  Junhong Chen,et al.  Room‐Temperature Gas Sensing Based on Electron Transfer between Discrete Tin Oxide Nanocrystals and Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes , 2009 .

[19]  G. Korotcenkov.  Metal oxides for solid-state gas sensors: What determines our choice? , 2007 .

[20]  Werner Weppner,et al.  Solid-state electrochemical gas sensors☆ , 1987 .

[21]  Richard E. Cavicchi,et al.  A universal approach to electrically connecting nanowire arrays using nanoparticles—application to a novel gas sensor architecture , 2006 .

[22]  Dae-Sik Lee,et al.  Flexible room-temperature NO2 gas sensors based on carbon nanotubes/reduced graphene hybrid films , 2010 .

[23]  K. Shepard,et al.  Boron nitride substrates for high-quality graphene electronics. , 2010, Nature nanotechnology.

[24]  Yanhuai Ding,et al.  A green approach to the synthesis of reduced graphene oxide nanosheets under UV irradiation , 2011, Nanotechnology.

[25]  K. Jenkins,et al.  Operation of graphene transistors at gigahertz frequencies. , 2008, Nano letters.

[26]  K. Jenkins,et al.  Operation of graphene transistors at gigahertz frequencies. , 2008, Nano letters.

[27]  Mei Chen,et al.  Porous ZnO Polygonal Nanoflakes: Synthesis, Use in High-Sensitivity NO2 Gas Sensor, and Proposed Mechanism of Gas Sensing , 2011 .

[28]  Thomas Hirsch,et al.  Hydrogen sensor based on a graphene - palladium nanocomposite , 2011 .

[29]  Sofian M. Kanan,et al.  Semiconducting Metal Oxide Based Sensors for Selective Gas Pollutant Detection , 2009, Sensors.

[30]  Zheng-Hong Lu,et al.  Universal energy-level alignment of molecules on metal oxides. , 2011, Nature materials.

[31]  Chenglu Lin,et al.  Fabrication and ethanol sensing characteristics of ZnO nanowire gas sensors , 2004 .

[32]  P. Kim,et al.  Experimental observation of the quantum Hall effect and Berry's phase in graphene , 2005, Nature.

[33]  Won Il Park,et al.  Vertically aligned ZnO nanorods and graphene hybrid architectures for high-sensitive flexible gas sensors , 2011 .

[34]  M. Meyyappan,et al.  Carbon Nanotube Sensors for Gas and Organic Vapor Detection , 2003 .

[35]  R. Ruoff,et al.  Graphene and Graphene Oxide: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications , 2010, Advanced materials.

[36]  Elson Longo,et al.  A New Method to Control Particle Size and Particle Size Distribution of SnO2 Nanoparticles for Gas Sensor Applications , 2000 .

[37]  Dong Xiang,et al.  Metal Oxide Gas Sensors: Sensitivity and Influencing Factors , 2010, Sensors.

[38]  Thorsten Wagner,et al.  Mesoporous materials as gas sensors. , 2013, Chemical Society reviews.

[39]  Nicola Donato,et al.  Room-temperature hydrogen sensing with heteronanostructures based on reduced graphene oxide and tin oxide. , 2012, Angewandte Chemie.