Flexible and Disposable Gas Sensors Based on Two-Dimensional Materials

Abstract

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) nanomaterials, in particular Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), have been employed frequently as a basis for flexible gas sensors due to their extreme sensitivity to gas molecules, super mechanical and electrical properties, and large surface area. This work aims to study the behavior of the flexible gas sensor made of 2D-MoS2 under exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas at the part per million (ppm) level. The mono-layered MoS2 was successfully synthesized by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). The formation of MoS2 layers was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and Photoluminescence (PL). Two different gas-sensing devices were fabricated by transferring two MoS2 samples (obtained from two positions inside the CVD tube) onto paper substrates. Specifically, upstream sample Sup was obtained from an area near the MoO3 source, and downstream sample Sdown was obtained from an area far from the MoO3 source. Both sensors showed a good response to a concentration as low as (1.5 ppm) of NO2. Although a high response of 62.8% along with a fast response of 9 sec were recorded by Sdown, the sensor showed a slow recovery time of 42 sec. On the other hand, Sup showed good stability with an appropriate response of 36.8% along with a reasonable response time and recovery times of 20 and 27 sec, respectively. Such behavior could be accredited to the difference in the reactivity in both MoS2 samples. This work opens the way for further improvements in manufacturing MoS2-based flexible gas sensors.