Ultrasensitive Boron-Nitrogen-Codoped CVD Graphene-Derived NO2 Gas Sensor

Recent trends in 2D materials like graphene are focused on heteroatom doping in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice to tailor the desired properties for various lightweight atomic thin-layer derived portable devices, particularly in the field of gas sensors. To design such gas sensors, it is important to either discover new materials with enhanced properties or tailor the properties of existing materials via doping. Herein, we exploit the concept of codoping of heteroatoms in graphene for more improvements in gas sensing properties and demonstrate a boron- and nitrogen-codoped bilayer graphenederived gas sensor for enhanced nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas sensing applications, which may possibly be another alternative for an efficient sensing device. A well-known method of low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) is employed for synthesizing the boron- and nitrogen-codoped bilayer graphene (BNGr). To validate the successful synthesis of BNGr, the Raman, XPS, and FESEM characterization techniques were performed. The Raman spectroscopy results validate the synthesis of graphene nanosheets, and moreover, the FESEM and XPS characterization confirms the codoping of nitrogen and boron in the graphene matrix. The gas sensing device was fabricated on a Si/SiO2 substrate with prepatterned gold electrodes. The proposed BNGr sensor unveils an ultrasensitive nature for NO2 at room temperature. A plausible NO2 gas sensing mechanism is explored via a comparative study of the experimental results through the density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the adsorbed gas molecules on doped heteroatom sites. Henceforth, the obtained results of NO2 sensing with the BNGr gas sensor offer new prospects for designing next-generation lightweight and ultrasensitive gas sensing devices.

Automated summary

Recent trends in 2D materials like graphene focus on the doping of heteroatoms in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice to tailor the desired properties for lightweight atomic thin-layer devices, particularly in gas sensors. In this study, boron- and nitrogen-codoped bilayer graphene was synthesized through low-pressure chemical vapor deposition and demonstrated as an ultrasensitive gas sensor for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) detection. Raman, XPS, and FESEM characterization techniques were used to validate the successful synthesis and doping of the graphene. The gas sensing mechanism was explored through density functional theory calculations, providing new prospects for designing next-generation gas sensing devices.