Controllable synthesis of silver nanoparticle-decorated reduced graphene oxide hybrids for ammonia detection

We demonstrate controllable fabrication of Ag nanoparticle (NP)-decorated reduced graphene oxide (RGO/Ag) hybrids and their application for fast and selective detection of ammonia at room temperature. Ag NPs greatly improved the sensitivity of RGO. The response time (6 s) and recovery time (10 s) are comparable with our previous Ag NP-decorated multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT/Ag) NH3 sensors; however, the sensitivity is about twice that of MWCNT/Ag hybrids. We found that the loading density of NPs greatly affects the sensing performance of RGO/Ag hybrids and a proper NP loading leads to maximum sensitivity.