Polyethylene glycol embedded reduced graphene oxide supramolecular assemblies for enhanced room-temperature gas sensors

Environ Res. 2023 Jul 31:116793. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116793. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTHerein, we present the gas-dependent electrical properties of a reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was synthesized by reducing GO with sodium borohydride (NaBH4). As-synthesized rGO was dispersed in DI water containing 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 wt% polyethylene glycol (PEG) to prepare PEG-rGO supramolecular assemblies. The successful preparation of supramolecular assemblies was verified by their characterization using XRD, FESEM, EDS, TEM, FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy. At room temperature, the gas-dependent electrical properties of these supramolecular assemblies were investigated. The results showed that sensors composed of PEG-rGO supramolecular assemblies performed better against benzene and methanol at 3% and 4% PEG, respectively. However, high selectivity and a wide range of activation energies (∼1.64-1.91 eV) were observed for H2 for 4% PEG-modified supramolecular assemblies. The PEG-rGO supramolecular assemblies may be an excellent candidate for constructing ultrahigh-performance gas sensors for a variety of applications due to their high sensitivity and selectivity.PMID:37532212 | DOI:10.1016/j.envres.2023.116793
Source: Environmental Research - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: research