title: Toward practical gas sensing with highly reduced graphene oxide: a new signal processing method to circumvent run-to-run and device-to-device variations.
abstract: Graphene is worth evaluating for chemical sensing and biosensing due to its outstanding physical and chemical properties. We first report on the fabrication and characterization of gas sensors using a back-gated field-effect transistor platform with chemically reduced graphene oxide (R-GO) as the conducting channel. These sensors exhibited a 360% increase in response when exposed to 100 ppm NO(2) in air, compared with thermally reduced graphene oxide sensors we reported earlier. We then present a new method of signal processing/data interpretation that addresses (i) sensing devices with long recovery periods (such as required for sensing gases with these R-GO sensors) as well as (ii) device-to-device variations. A theoretical analysis is used to illuminate the importance of using the new signal processing method when the sensing device suffers from slow recovery and non-negligible contact resistance. We suggest that the work reported here (including the sensor signal processing method and the inherent simplicity of device fabrication) is a significant step toward the real-world application of graphene-based chemical sensors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3200 North Cramer Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, USA.
authors.forename: Ganhua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Sungjin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Kehan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Rodney S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Ruoff
authors.forename: Leonidas E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Ocola
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rosenmann
authors.forename: Junhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000388:Air / Q000032:analysis; D000641:Ammonia / Q000032:analysis; D016477:Artifacts; D004566:Electrodes; D004583:Electrons; D005740:Gases / Q000032:analysis*; D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009585:Nitrogen Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013696:Temperature; D014173:Transistors, Electronic
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D010087:Oxides; D000641:Ammonia; D006108:Graphite; D009585:Nitrogen Dioxide