Flower-like In2O3 modified by reduced graphene oxide sheets serving as a highly sensitive gas sensor for trace NO2 detection

Abstract

In this work, we described gas sensors based on the materials composed of hierarchical flower-likeIn2O3 and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), which were fabricated by a facile one-step hydrothermal method. The rGO-In2O3 composites exhibited enhanced sensing performance towards NO2 through comparison with the pure In2O3 sample. The operating temperature can be tuned by the percentage of rGO in the composites. The sensor based on 5wt% rGO-In2O3 could work at room temperature with a high response value to 1ppm NO2. 3wt% rGO-In2O3 composite was adopted for the ultra-sensitivity gas sensor owing to its extremely low limit of detection of 10ppb with rapid response time to NO2. The sensor also exhibited excellent selectivity and stability. The ultra-sensitivity of rGO-In2O3 should be related to synergistic effect of the hierarchical structure of In2O3 and the presence of rGO in the composites, which provided enhanced surface area and local p-n heterojunctions in rGO/In2O3 composites.