Enhanced Acetone Sensing Characteristics of ZnO/Graphene Composites

Abstract

ZnO/graphene (ZnO-G) hybrid composites are prepared via hydrothermal synthesis with graphite, N-methyl-pyrrolidone (NMP), and Zn(NO3)2·6H2O as the precursors. The characterizations, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicate the formation of ZnO-G. Gas sensors were fabricated with ZnO-G composites and ZnO as sensing material, indicating that the response of the ZnO towards acetone was significantly enhanced by graphene doping. It was found that the ZnO-G sensor exhibits remarkably enhanced response of 13.3 at the optimal operating temperature of 280 °C to 100 ppm acetone, an improvement from 7.7 with pure ZnO.

Keywords

• graphene
• acetone sensing
• ZnO