A comparative study on the gas sensing performance of SnO₂ and GO-SnO₂ sensor devices.

Using Modified Hummer’s technique, eco-friendly carbon derivative (GO) nanoparticles were obtained from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) precursor. Nanocomposite of GO-SnO 2 and undoped SnO 2 were synthesized using the coprecipitation method. The as-prepared nanoparticles were subjected to diverse analytical processes employing Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to study the internal morphological properties of the nanoparticles. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was used to examine elemental quantifications of the nanopowders. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to analyze bond structures and functional groups. Dynamic responses of various gas sensor devices to 20 ppm concentrations of methane (CH 4 ) and hydrogen (H 2 ) were investigated as a function of time at room temperature. The GO-SnO 2 nanocomposite sensing device demonstrated an ideal detection response with values of 5.00 and 5.08, corresponding to methane and hydrogen analyte gases. The doped SnO 2 sensor device outperformed the pure SnO 2 , accounting for the GO-SnO 2 > SnO 2 order. Regarding the target gases, the synthesized nanocomposite demonstrated stability and selectivity in the following order of magnitude: H 2 > CH 4 . The GO doping effect was found to have introduced surface defects, increased pores, and enabled more oxygen-active sites to be formed on the sensor device’s surface for dynamic gas sensing response, providing a comparatively enhanced sensor response.