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Fully printed ethanol transparent paper sensor based on ZnO/rGO nanocomposites

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Abstract

Flexible and easy fabrication gas sensors can be utilized in various applications. In this study, we have proposed and prepared zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods and reduced grapheme oxide (rGO) nanocomposite materials, fully printed on highly transparent paper substrates, and thoroughly investigated and optimized the performance of these gas sensors to ethanol at room temperature (25 °C). Among them, the average length of the ZnO nanorods is 200 nm and the diameter is 30 nm, integrated with rGO, the two-dimensional ZnO/rGO nanocomposites were obtained. The ratios of ZnO and rGO in the materials were controlled, ZnO/rGO nanocomposites ink was prepared, and thin films were coated on paper substrate to acquire transparent flexible paper gas sensors. Furthermore, the fabricated ZnO/rGO paper-based gas sensors achieved ppb grade detection of ethanol at room temperature (25 °C) with high performance (favorable selectivity, high gas sensitivity, good stability, and rapid response/recovery time). Specially, the proposed paper-based gas sensors are not only transparent but are also better in breathability, biocompatibility, and biodegradability, which have great application prospects in handheld or wearable electronic devices for the detection of trace ethanol at room temperature.

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Data availability

The data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of GDAS’ Project of Science and Technology Development (2021GDASYL-20210103032), The Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (202102021028), National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFF0607201), and National Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (2023A1515011422).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Haixin Liu & Wenhao Shen

  2. Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering, Guangdong Academy of Sciences & National Engineering Research Center for Healthcare Devices, 510500, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

    Haixin Liu

  3. Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Catalysis and Health Risk Control, Institute of Environmental Health and Pollution Control, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China

    Linghui Peng

  4. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Institute for Energy Research, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China

    Di Li

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  1. Haixin Liu
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  2. Linghui Peng
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  3. Di Li
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by HL, LP, DL, and WS. The first draft of the manuscript was written by HL and all authors commented on the previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wenhao Shen.

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Liu, H., Peng, L., Li, D. et al. Fully printed ethanol transparent paper sensor based on ZnO/rGO nanocomposites. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 35, 359 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-024-12083-9

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