Graphene filled polymers for vapor/gas sensor applications

Abstract

With their unique and excellent properties such as high carrier mobility and high surface area, graphene-base materials have shown great promise as efficient sensing materials for highly sensitive and low noise sensors. Graphene offers some important advantages over other carbon-based materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which includes enhanced sensitivity and low inherent electrical noise. These merits mainly comes from their structural features, as it is composed of all surface carbon atoms with large and flat geometry enabling high sensitivity and low contact resistance. Moreover, their surface can be functionalized with organic molecules (e.g., polymers, nanocrystalline, bio-molecular), and surface molecules on graphene surface can also be used as gas/vapor sensing materials that promote the sensing capability of overall composites. This has sparked interests in the development of highly sensitive and selective gas/vapor sensors based on graphene-based materials and their polymer composites. In this review, recent progress on graphene and its composites will be discussed in the context of their use in sensors. It mainly focuses on how engineering graphene with other functional molecules can affect their ability to detect a number of different gas/vapor. It also emphasizes achievements made with graphene-filled polymer composites for gas/vapor sensor applications. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015.