Reduced graphene oxide/ZnO nanocomposite for application in chemical gas sensors

Coupling of graphene-based materials with metal oxide nanostructures is
an effective way to obtain composites with improved gas sensing
properties. In this work, we prepared a hybrid structure based on
graphene oxide (GO) and ZnO nanostructures. The morphological,
compositional and structural analyses of the composite material have
been investigated using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction
spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and Raman spectroscopy.
The gas sensing properties of the obtained structure have been studied
towards nitrogen dioxide, hydrogen and methane at relatively low (about
200 degrees C) operating temperatures. It has been demonstrated that the
reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/ZnO composites exhibit 40-50\% better
response to NO2 and H-2 compared to pure ZnO sensors. The obtained
results show that the functionalization of the nanostructured ZnO with
the RGO sheets is a promising strategy to develop chemical gas sensors
with improved gas sensing properties.