Graphene oxide/SnO2 Nanocomposite as Sensing Material for Breathalyzers: Selective Detection of Ethanol in the presence of Automotive CO and Hydrocarbons Emissions

Arvani, Maedeh; Mohammad Aliha, Hamide; Khodadadi, Abbas Ali; Mortazavi, Yadollah

doi:10.24200/sci.2017.4350

Graphene oxide/SnO2 Nanocomposite as Sensing Material for Breathalyzers: Selective Detection of Ethanol in the presence of Automotive CO and Hydrocarbons Emissions

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Maedeh Arvani ¹

Hamide Mohammad Aliha ²

Abbas Ali Khodadadi ²

Yadollah Mortazavi ²

¹ 1Catalysis and Nanostructured Materials Research Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, 11365-4563, Iran

² Catalysis and Nanostructured Materials Research Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, 11365-4563, Iran

10.24200/sci.2017.4350

Abstract

SnO₂ was ultrasonically deposited-precipitated in the presence of different amounts of graphene oxide (GO) prepared by the modified Hummers’ method. The resulting nanocomposites were used as the sensing material for detection of 1000 ppm CO and VOCs including ethanol, acetone and toluene and CH4 in a temperature range of 150-300°C. The nanocomposites were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, XRD, BET surface area measurement, FT-IR and SEM methods. It seems that SnO₂ layers were deposited on the GO surface and incorporated into the matrix. This results in 47% increase in the nanocomposite BET surface area. Addition of 0.1 wt% GO to SnO₂ increases the response to CO by about 6 times, at 300°C. As an optimum amount of 0.05 wt% GO is included in the SnO₂, up to 2 fold enhancement in response to ethanol and toluene is observed. At 250^oC, the highest response to ethanol is obtained, which is 120, 114, 1400 and 15 times larger than the responses to CO, toluene, methane and acetone, respectively, making the sensors quite selective to ethanol. Furthermore, this sensor exhibited good response in the low concentration of ethanol.

Keywords

Gas sensor

Graphene oxide

Breathalyzer

Ethanol

SnO2

Subjects