ZnO-Loaded Graphene for NO₂ Gas Sensing

This paper investigates the effect of decorating graphene with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) for the detection of NO₂. In this regard, two graphene sensors with different ZnO loadings of 5 wt.% and 20 wt.% were prepared, and their responses towards NO₂ at room temperature and different conditions were compared. The experimental results demonstrate that the graphene loaded with 5 wt.% ZnO NPs (G95/5) shows better performance at detecting low concentrations of the target gas than the one loaded with 20 wt.% ZnO NPs (G80/20). Moreover, measurements under dry and humid conditions of the G95/5 sensor revealed that the material is very sensitive to ambient moisture, showing an almost eight-fold increase in NO₂ sensitivity when the background changes from dry to 70% relative humidity. Regarding sensor selectivity, it presents a significant selectivity towards NO₂ compared to other gas compounds.