Abstract
This paper demonstrates an acetylene gas sensor based on an Ag-decorated tin dioxide/reduced graphene oxide (Ag–SnO2/rGO) nanocomposite film, prepared by layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly technology. The as-prepared Ag–SnO2/rGO nanocomposite was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectrum. The acetylene sensing properties were investigated using different working temperatures and gas concentrations. An optimal temperature of 90 °C was determined, and the Ag–SnO2/rGO nanocomposite sensor exhibited excellent sensing behaviors towards acetylene, in terms of response, repeatability, stability and response/recovery characteristics, which were superior to the pure SnO2 and SnO2/rGO film sensors. The sensing mechanism of the Ag–SnO2/rGO sensor was attributed to the synergistic effect of the ternary nanomaterials, and the heterojunctions created at the interfaces between SnO2 and rGO. This work indicates that the Ag–SnO2/rGO nanocomposite is a good candidate for constructing a low-temperature acetylene sensor.
Highlights
Acetylene (C2H2) is a colorless and highly combustible gaseous hydrocarbon, widely used as a fuel in many industrial fields, such as metal welding [1], polyacetylene preparation [2], lithium-ion batteries [3], and conductive plastic manufacturing [4]
The presented progresses suggest that noble metal doping and graphene addition techniques are effective for lowering the operating temperature and improving the acetylene sensing performance of metal-oxide semiconductors (MOS)-based sensors
Polyelectrolytes used for layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly were 1.5 wt % poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) [PDDA (Sigma-Aldrich Co., Saint Louis, MO, USA), molecular weights (MW) of 200–350 K] and 0.3 wt % poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) [PSS (Sigma-Aldrich Co., Saint Louis, MO, USA), MW of 70 K] with 0.5 M NaCl (West Long Chemical Co., Ltd., Guangdong, China) in both, to provide better surface coverage
Summary
Acetylene (C2H2) is a colorless and highly combustible gaseous hydrocarbon, widely used as a fuel in many industrial fields, such as metal welding [1], polyacetylene preparation [2], lithium-ion batteries [3], and conductive plastic manufacturing [4]. A lot of interest has been attracted surrounding the development of effective techniques and sensitive methods for acetylene gas detection, such as photoacoustic spectroscopy [7], optical fiber [6,8] and metal-oxide semiconductors (MOS) and nanomaterial-based sensors (i.e., PdO-decorated SnO2 [9], Au/multi-wall carbon nanotubes [10], Sm2O3-decorated SnO2 [11], Ag-loaded ZnO [12,13,14] and NiO/SnO2 heterostructures [15]). Uddin et al synthesized a ZnO/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite using a solvothermal method, which exhibited preferential detection of acetylene gas with good selectivity, long-term stability, and fast response/recovery times at 250 ◦C [28]. The presented progresses suggest that noble metal doping and graphene addition techniques are effective for lowering the operating temperature and improving the acetylene sensing performance of MOS-based sensors. We fabricated a low-temperature acetylene gas sensor based on a layer-by-layer, self-assembled Ag–SnO2/rGO ternary nanocomposite film, for the first time. The underlying sensing mechanism of the Ag–SnO2/rGO sensor was further discussed
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