title: High sensitivity gas detection using a macroscopic three-dimensional graphene foam network.
abstract: Nanostructures are known to be exquisitely sensitive to the chemical environment and offer ultra-high sensitivity for gas-sensing. However, the fabrication and operation of devices that use individual nanostructures for sensing is complex, expensive and suffers from poor reliability due to contamination and large variability from sample-to-sample. By contrast, conventional solid-state and conducting-polymer sensors offer excellent reliability but suffer from reduced sensitivity at room-temperature. Here we report a macro graphene foam-like three-dimensional network which combines the best of both worlds. The walls of the foam are comprised of few-layer graphene sheets resulting in high sensitivity; we demonstrate parts-per-million level detection of NH(3) and NO(2) in air at room-temperature. Further, the foam is a mechanically robust and flexible macro-scale network that is easy to contact (without Lithography) and can rival the durability and affordability of traditional sensors. Moreover, Joule-heating expels chemisorbed molecules from the foam's surface leading to fully-reversible and low-power operation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, New York 12180-3590, USA.
authors.forename: Fazel
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yavari
authors.forename: Zongping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Abhay V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Wencai
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Hui-Ming
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Nikhil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koratkar