Abstract
The efficient monitoring of the environment is currently gaining a continuous growing interest in view of finding solutions for the global pollution issues and their associated climate change. In this sense, two-dimensional (2D) materials appear as one of highly attractive routes for the development of efficient sensing devices due, in particular, to the interesting blend of their superlative properties. For instance, graphene (Gr) and graphitic carbon nitride g-C3N4 (g-CN) have specifically attracted great attention in several domains of sensing applications owing to their excellent electronic and physical-chemical properties. Despite the high potential they offer in the development and fabrication of high-performance gas-sensing devices, an exhaustive comparison between Gr and g-CN is not well established yet regarding their electronic properties and their sensing performances such as sensitivity and selectivity. Hence, this work aims at providing a state-of-the-art overview of the latest experimental advances in the fabrication, characterization, development, and implementation of these 2D materials in gas-sensing applications. Then, the reported results are compared to our numerical simulations using density functional theory carried out on the interactions of Gr and g-CN with some selected hazardous gases’ molecules such as NO2, CO2, and HF. Our findings conform with the superior performances of the g-CN regarding HF detection, while both g-CN and Gr show comparable detection performances for the remaining considered gases. This allows suggesting an outlook regarding the future use of these 2D materials as high-performance gas sensors.
Highlights
A fast-paced race for devices’ miniaturization based on 2D materials is marking the rapid evolvement in the research and development of carbon nanomaterials (CNM) in biomedical systems, electronic appliances, computing devices, and sensor manufacturing industries [1–5]. Advancements in these application fields depend on the ability to grow CNM on various substrates, with controlled morphologies and quality, while increasing their efficiency of getting assembled in complex architectures [6]
Graphitic carbon nitride g-C3N4 (g-CN) is a semiconducting nanomaterial with a crystal structure analogous to graphite constructed from Van der Waals sheets of sp2 hybrid carbon and nitrogen atoms. g-CN is an abundant, inexpensive, and easy to manufacture nanomaterial at large scale [14]. is, added to its high electrical properties and good thermal and chemical stabilities, has recently created an increasing interest around it
Sensors fabricated by r-Graphene oxides (GrO) show conductance that is 4.3% more than that of mechanically exfoliated Gr [21]
Summary
A fast-paced race for devices’ miniaturization based on 2D materials is marking the rapid evolvement in the research and development of carbon nanomaterials (CNM) in biomedical systems, electronic appliances, computing devices, and sensor manufacturing industries [1–5]. Advancements in these application fields depend on the ability to grow CNM on various substrates, with controlled morphologies and quality, while increasing their efficiency of getting assembled in complex architectures [6]. Formed by sp2hybridized carbon atoms bonded covalently and packed densely to form honeycomb crystal lattice [7, 8], graphene is a single-atom-thick sheet semimetal with commendable electron transport properties and superior thermal and electrical conductivities in addition to superior mechanical properties [9–13]. With an appropriate bandgap and high electron mobility, g-CN constitutes a potentially good candidate for various applications in energy storage, solar cells, gas sensing, and catalysis [15–18]
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