He adsorption and sensing properties of graphene nanoflakes doped with Mo and Nb

DFT calculations have been performed to study the He adsorption on the surface of Mo-doped graphene and Nb-doped graphene nanoflakes in order to evaluate the capability of studied doped graphene sheets as effective gas sensor materials. The omega B97XD (including dispersion)/6-311++G(d,p) (LanL2DZ for Mo and Nb) level of theory were utilized in this investigation. The HOMO-LUMO gap (E-g) of the Mo-doped and Nb-doped graphene structures decreased upon He adsorption on both sheets (-37.77% and -8.33%, respectively). Therefore, the electrical conductivity of both surfaces have increased. However, alteration of the E-g value in Mo-doped graphene is very higher than that of Nb-doped graphene. So, the Mo-doped graphene is more sensitive to He molecule in comparison with Nb-doped graphene and it could be used as a gas sensor material to detect He gas. Variety analyses such as natural bond orbital (NBO), density of states (DOS), electron density distribution (ED), electron localization function (ELF) and non-covalent interaction-reduced density gradient (NCI-RDG) have been carried-out in order to better evaluate the He adsorption nature on the investigated surfaces.

Automated summary

DFT calculations were performed to study He adsorption on Mo-doped and Nb-doped graphene nanoflake surfaces. The HOMO-LUMO gap of both doped graphene structures decreased upon He adsorption, resulting in increased electrical conductivity. However, the E-g value change in Mo-doped graphene was higher than that in Nb-doped graphene. Hence, Mo-doped graphene is more sensitive to He and can be used as a gas sensor material.