title: Confined Formation of Ultrathin ZnO Nanorods/Reduced Graphene Oxide Mesoporous Nanocomposites for High-Performance Room-Temperature NO2Sensors.
abstract: Here we demonstrate high-performance room-temperature NO2sensors based on ultrathin ZnO nanorods/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) mesoporous nanocomposites. Ultrathin ZnO nanorods were loaded on rGO nanosheets by a facile two-step additive-free solution synthesis involving anchored seeding followed by oriented growth. The ZnO nanorod diameters were simply controlled by the seed diameters associated with the spatial confinement effects of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets. Compared to the solely ZnO nanorods and rGO-based sensors, the optimal sensor based on ultrathin ZnO nanorods/rGO nanocomposites exhibited higher sensitivity and quicker p-type response to parts per million level of NO2at room temperature, and the sensitivity to 1 ppm of NO2was 119% with the response and recovery time being 75 and 132 s. Moreover, the sensor exhibited full reversibility, excellent selectivity, and a low detection limit (50 ppb) to NO2at room temperature. In addition to the high transport capability of rGO as well as excellent NO2adsorption ability derived from ultrathin ZnO nanorods and mesoporous structures, the superior sensing performance of the nanocomposites was attributed to the synergetic effect of ZnO and rGO, which was realized by the electron transfer across the ZnO-rGO interfaces through band energy alignment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, China.|Research Center for Analysis and Measurement, Kunming University of Science and Technology , Kunming 650093, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, China.|Department of Ecosystem Science and Management and Materials Research Institute, Materials Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-based Functional Materials and Devices, Soochow University , Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Long
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Xian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecosystem Science and Management and Materials Research Institute, Materials Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
authors.forename: Sridhar
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9102-1437
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Komarneni
keywords: NO2; ZnO; reduced graphene oxide; room-temperature sensor; spatial confinement growth