Controllable Synthesis of Pt Functionalized Black Phosphorus (BP) Nanocomposite for High Performance NO_x Gas Sensor

Compared with bulk material-based sensors, functional sensors fabricated with nanomaterials have many advantages, such as high sensitivity, multifunctional integration, low power-dissipation, and low cost. Black phosphorus (BP) is a two-dimensional (2D) crystal material, which has a higher molecular adsorption energy, tunable direct band gap, high carrier mobility, ambipolar characteristics, and high current on/off ratio. In this paper, BP bulk was ground into powder, and then the powder was dispersed in dimethylformamide (DMF) to obtain two-dimensional BP nanosheets solution. Afterwards, the black phosphorus nanosheets and H₂PtCl₆ solution were mixed to obtain the Pt functionalized BP nanocomposite by one-step reduction method. Pt nanoparticles were dispersed on the surface of BP nanosheets with highly uniform size. The Pt functionalized BP nanocomposite exhibited a high response of 2.19 to 10 ppm NO_x in a short period of 1.93 s at room temperature. The detection limit was as low as 30 ppb. The Pt functionalized BP nanocomposite will be useful for precise detection of NO_x.