Facile synthesis of reduced graphene oxide encapsulated selenium nanoparticles prepared by hydrothermal method for acetone gas sensors

Abstract

The Selenium nanoparticles (Se NPs) have been encapsulated with uniformly reduced graphene oxide by a simple hydrothermal approach. The crystallinity of rGO-Se nanocomposite was controlled by heat treatment. The crystal structure, morphology, and composition were confirmed by XRD, SEM, TEM, EDS, and XPS. The results showed that as-fabricated Se NPs with a mean diameter of 200–400 nm are assembled and well adhered to the rGO matrix. The rGO-Se nanocomposite based sensor exhibits a higher response, under exposure to 100 ppm acetone, with their response 3.2, which is 2 times higher than pristine Se at 135 °C. Furthermore, the prepared sensor also showed more rapid response-recovery time and good reproducibility. It was observed that a high specific area was accomplished by an increase in porosity of rGO-Se nanocomposite. The as-prepared graphene-based composite can be used in a wide range of applications due to high performance in real-time gas detection.