Hierarchical NiO Cube/Nitrogen-Doped Reduced Graphene Oxide Composite with Enhanced H2S Sensing Properties at Low Temperature.

A novel hierarchical NiO cube (hc-NiO)/nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO) composite is synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method and a postcalcination treatment without any templates and surfactants added. The NiO cubes assembled by abundant nanoparticles in situ grow on the surface of N-rGO layers. The combination of hc-NiO and N-rGO results in enhanced sensing properties with the contributions of the N-rGO providing high specific surface area and more efficient active sites for the adsorption of H2S molecules and the hierarchically structured NiO cubes providing high sensitivity and distinctive selectivity to H2S gas. At the optimal operating temperature of 92 °C, the hc-NiO/N-rGO composite based sensor shows not only high response to H2S in a range of 0.1-100 ppm but also excellent selectivity for H2S against the other seven gases. The gaseous product, produced from the contact of H2S with the hc-NiO/N-rGO composite at 92 °C, is measured by GC-MS technique. The change of the surface composition and the chemical state of the hc-NiO/N-rGO composite before and after exposure to H2S are investigated by XPS. The possible sensing mechanism of the hc-NiO/N-rGO composite is similar to that of semiconductor oxides. The H2S molecules that absorbed on the sensor surface transform to SO2 by reacting with the adsorbed oxygen anions. Meanwhile, the electrons restricted by the surface-adsorbed oxygen return to the bulk and neutralize the holes, producing a change in resistance.