Investigating the effect of gas absorption on the electromechanical and electrochemical behavior of graphene/ZnO structure, suitable for highly selective and sensitive gas sensors

Graphene/ZnO hybrid was used, for the first time, to fabricate a highly selective and sensitive graphene based gas sensor by a combination of electromechanical and electrochemical characteristics of the graphene. ZnO nanowires in our fabricated sensor have two important roles: as the reductant of graphene oxide to obtain graphene and as an efficient electromechanical actuator due to their piezoelectric properties. To investigate the operation of the fabricated sensor as a gas sensor, a selected set of chemical vapors were introduced to the structure. It was found that chemical vapors change the resonance frequency of the graphene/ZnO structure, as well as the electrical resistivity of the sensor. The observed variation of the mechanical and electrical characteristics of the graphene/ZnO in response to gas exposure entitles the graphene/ZnO based sensor as a highly selective/sensitive device for gas sensing applications with distinctive signatures for different gas species.