Abstract
Nanomaterial-based sensors with high sensitivity, fast response and recovery time, large detection range, and high chemical stability are in immense demand for the detection of hazardous gas molecules. Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) which have exceptional electrical, physical, and chemical properties can fulfil all of these requirements. The detection of gas molecules using gas sensors, particularly in medical diagnostics and safety applications, is receiving particularly high demand. GNRs exhibit remarkable changes in their electrical characteristics when exposed to different gases through molecular adsorption. In this paper, the adsorption effects of the target gas molecules (CO and NO) on the electrical properties of the armchair graphene nanoribbon (AGNR)-based sensor are analytically modelled. Thus, the energy dispersion relation of AGNR is developed considering the molecular adsorption effect using a tight binding (TB) method. The carrier velocity is calculated based on the density of states (DOS) and carrier concentration (n) to obtain I–V characteristics and to monitor its variation in the presence of the gas molecules. Furthermore, the I–V characteristics and energy band structure of the AGNR sensor are simulated using first principle calculations to investigate the gas adsorption effects on these properties. To ensure the accuracy of the proposed model, the I–V characteristics of the AGNR sensor that are simulated based both on the proposed model and first principles calculations are compared, and an acceptable agreement is achieved.
Highlights
The unique electrical, physical, and chemical properties of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) make them very interesting for use in the future generation of the electronic devices, such as field effect transistors (FETs), diodes, capacitors, memories, and sensors [1,2]
In the modelling of the gas sensor, the velocity of the carriers can be used as one of the key parameters to discover and investigate the molecular adsorption effects on the electrical properties of the sensor, which is our focus in this paper
The results show a negative Ea for all gas molecules, which indicates an exothermic reaction between the armchair graphene nanoribbon (AGNR) and gas molecule according to Table 1
Summary
The unique electrical, physical, and chemical properties of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) make them very interesting for use in the future generation of the electronic devices, such as field effect transistors (FETs), diodes, capacitors, memories, and sensors [1,2]. The adsorption of gas molecules can modulate different electrical and physical properties of the GNRs, such as density of states (DOS), carrier concentration, carrier velocity, I–V characteristics, and energy band structure. In the modelling of the energy band structure of AGNRs considering the molecular adsorption effect, the tight-binding (TB) approximation technique based on the nearest neighbourhood is used for both the AGNR and gas molecules.
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