Gold Nanoparticles Decorated Copper Oxide Nanosheets Sensor for Hydrogen Sulfide Gas Sensing at Room Temperature

Abstract

This study exhibits a highly H2S-selective gas sensor based on copper oxide nanosheets (CuO-NSs) material. CuO-NSs are fabricated by a simple and economical method. CuO-NSs are decorated by gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and used to detect H2S at room temperature. The AuNPs decorated CuO sensor has responses of 36.55% to 69.67% at 0.1 to 0.5 ppm of H2S while the pure sensor has responses from 4.77% to 13.37%. It can be seen that AuNPs can enhance H2S sensing responses five to nine times higher than pure one. The sensor also shows high H2S selectivity against NH3, SO2 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The beneficial effect of AuNPs allow the H2S detection of CuO material down to ppb and even lower level, which make it possible to be applied in environmental applications and portable devices.