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Highly sensitive and rapidly responding room-temperature NO2 gas sensors based on WO3 nanorods/sulfonated graphene nanocomposites

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Abstract

Metal oxide/graphene nanocomposites are emerging as promising materials for developing room-temperature gas sensors. However, the unsatisfactory performances owing to the relatively low sensitivity, slow response, and recovery kinetics limit their applications. Herein, a highly sensitive and rapidly responding room-temperature NO2 gas sensor based on WO3 nanorods/sulfonated reduced graphene oxide (S-rGO) was prepared via a simple and cost-effective hydrothermal method. The optimal sensor response of the WO3/S-rGO sensor toward 20 ppm NO2 is 149% in 6 s, which is 4.7 times higher and 100 times faster than that of the corresponding WO3/rGO sensors. In addition, the sensor exhibits excellent reproducibility, selectivity, and extremely fast recovery kinetics. The mechanism of the WO3/S-rGO nanocomposite gas sensor is investigated in detail. In addition to the high transport capability of S-rGO as well as its excellent NO2 adsorption ability, the superior sensing performance of the S-rGO/WO3 sensor can be attributed to the favorable charge transfer occurring at the S-rGO/WO3 interfaces. We believe that the strategy of compositing a metal oxide with functionalized graphene provides a new insight for the future development of room-temperature gas sensors.

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Acknowledgements

This work is funded by Key Laboratory of Micro-systems and Micro-structures Manufacturing of Ministry of Education, Harbin Institute of Technology (No. 2017KM007), the open Project of State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (No. HCK201704), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No. 21101043).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

    Tingting Wang, Juanyuan Hao, Shengliang Zheng, Quan Sun, Di Zhang & You Wang

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  1. Tingting Wang
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  2. Juanyuan Hao
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  3. Shengliang Zheng
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  4. Quan Sun
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  5. Di Zhang
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Correspondence to Juanyuan Hao or You Wang.

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Highly sensitive and rapidly responding room-temperature NO2 gas sensors based on WO3 nanorods/sulfonated graphene nanocomposites

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Wang, T., Hao, J., Zheng, S. et al. Highly sensitive and rapidly responding room-temperature NO2 gas sensors based on WO3 nanorods/sulfonated graphene nanocomposites. Nano Res. 11, 791–803 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1688-y

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