A potential gas sensor device based on Pd/RGO/TiO2 nanotube ternary hybrid junction

摘要

In the present work, fabrication, characterizations and gas sensing performance of a novel ternary hybrid junction device consisting of Pd nanoparticles, Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO) and TiO2 nanotubes (NTs) is reported. Electrochemically derived TiO2 nanotubes were covered partially by RGO matrix in the form of distributed islands, on top of which Pd nanoparticles were dispersed uniformly. After detailed structural and morphological characterizations, gas sensing potentiality of the developed ternary hybrid device was tested for detection of methanol vapor and the sensing performance was compared with that of the RGO-TiO2 binary structure to ensure the improvement caused by incorporation of the ternary element (Pd). Underlying mechanistic framework for gas sensing, by such ternary junction, was explained with the help of corresponding energy band diagram. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.