Humidity-Sensing Properties of One-Step Hydrothermally Synthesized Tin Dioxide-Decorated Graphene Nanocomposite on Polyimide Substrate

This paper demonstrates the one-step hydrothermal synthesis of a tin dioxide (SnO2)-decorated reduced graphene oxide (RGO) hybrid nanocomposite, which was drop-casted on a polyimide substrate as a humidity sensor. The as-synthesized hybrid was characterized in terms of its nanostructural, morphological and compositional features by SEM, XRD and nitrogen sorption. The humidity sensing properties of the presented RGO/SnO2 hybrid nanocomposite, such as repeatability, stability, response-recovery characteristics, were investigated by exposing it to a broad humidity range of 11-97% RH at room temperature. As a result, the sensor demonstrated a high sensitivity, a good repeatability, an acceptable linearity, a fast response/recovery characteristic and high long-term stability over a full humidity range measurement, indicating the unique advantages of one-step hydrothermal synthesis for sensor fabrication. The possible and proposed sensing mechanism for the sensor is mainly attributed to a humidity-induced transfer of charge carriers occuring at the interfaces and the swelling effect of RGO.