Gas Sensors Based on Chemically Reduced Holey Graphene Oxide Thin Films

Ming Yang; Yanyan Wang; Lei Dong; Zhiyong Xu; Yanhua Liu; Nantao Hu; Eric Siu-Wai Kong; Jiang Zhao; Changsi Peng

doi:10.1186/s11671-019-3060-5

Gas Sensors Based on Chemically Reduced Holey Graphene Oxide Thin Films

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2019 Jul 1;14(1):218. doi: 10.1186/s11671-019-3060-5.

Authors

Ming Yang^{1

2}, Yanyan Wang^{3

4}, Lei Dong^{1

2}, Zhiyong Xu^{1

2}, Yanhua Liu^{1

2}, Nantao Hu⁵, Eric Siu-Wai Kong⁵, Jiang Zhao⁶, Changsi Peng^{7

8}

Affiliations

¹ School of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, People's Republic of China.
² Key Lab of Advanced Optical Manufacturing Technologies of Jiangsu Province & Key Lab of Modern Optical Technologies of Education Ministry of China, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, People's Republic of China.
³ School of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, People's Republic of China. yywang@suda.edu.cn.
⁴ Key Lab of Advanced Optical Manufacturing Technologies of Jiangsu Province & Key Lab of Modern Optical Technologies of Education Ministry of China, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, People's Republic of China. yywang@suda.edu.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory for Thin Film and Microfabrication of Ministry of Education, Department of Micro/Nano Electronics, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People's Republic of China.
⁶ Jiangsu Provincial Engineering Laboratory for RF Integration and Micropackaging, College of Electronic and Optical Engineering & College of Microelectronics, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing, 210023, People's Republic of China.
⁷ School of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, People's Republic of China. changsipeng@suda.edu.cn.
⁸ Key Lab of Advanced Optical Manufacturing Technologies of Jiangsu Province & Key Lab of Modern Optical Technologies of Education Ministry of China, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, People's Republic of China. changsipeng@suda.edu.cn.

Abstract

The nanosheet stacking phenomenon in graphene thin films significantly deteriorates their gas-sensing performance. This nanosheet stacking issue should be solved and reduced to enhance the gas detection sensitivity. In this study, we report a novel ammonia (NH₃) gas sensor based on holey graphene thin films. The precursors, holey graphene oxide (HGO) nanosheets, were prepared by etching graphene under UV irradiation with Fenton reagent (Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺/H₂O₂). Holey graphene was prepared by the reduction of HGO (rHGO) with pyrrole. Holey graphene thin-film gas sensors were prepared by depositing rHGO suspensions onto the electrodes. The resulting sensing devices show excellent response, sensitivity, and selectivity to NH₃. The resistance change is 2.81% when the NH₃ level is as low as 1 ppm, whereas the resistance change is 11.32% when the NH₃ level is increased to 50 ppm. Furthermore, the rHGO thin-film gas sensor could be quickly restored to their initial states without the stimulation with an IR lamp. In addition, the devices showed excellent repeatability. The resulting rHGO thin-film gas sensor has a great potential for applications in numerous sensing fields because of its low cost, low energy consumption, and outstanding sensing performance.

Keywords: Graphene oxide; Holey graphene; NH3 gas sensor; Reduced graphene oxide.