Formaldehyde chemical sensor based on the Pt- and Pd-decorated GaN nanotubes

Abstract

The current piece of research aimed at investigating how the decoration of Pt and Pd atoms impacts on the formaldehyde detection ability of a gallium nitride nanotube (GaNNT) through density functional theory calculations. Based on the results, the interaction between GaNNT and formaldehyde was a physical adhesion with a sensing response of around 6.7. After decorating Pt and Pd atoms into the GaNNT surface, the adsorption energies changed from −6.6 to −20.6 and –22.5 kcal/mol, respectively. In addition, there was a noticeable increase in the sensing response to 51.3 and 98.5, which revealed an increase in the sensitivity GaNNTs. The findings revealed that the decoration of Pd atom increases the sensitivity of GaNNT to formaldehyde more than the Pt atom. The theoretically obtained results also pinpointed to the fact that decorating GaN nanostructures with metals can render them suitable for practical uses.