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A hybrid material consisting of bulk-reduced TiO2, graphene oxide and polyaniline for resistance based sensing of gaseous ammonia at room temperature

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Abstract

A hybrid material consisting of bulk-reduced TiO2, graphene oxide (GO) and polyaniline (PANI) was fabricated by decorating TiO2 with GO, followed by in-situ oxidative chemical polymerization of aniline. The TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) with thermally stable bulk reduction states were initially prepared from porous amorphous titanium as the precursor. The TiO2 NPs and GO were chemically conjugated to each other via amide bonds to improve the stability of the composite. The sensor, if operated in the conductivity mode, exhibits strong signal changes, and fast response and recovery times (of 32 and 17 s, respectively) to gaseous ammonia even at room temperature. Its response range extends from 5 to 300 ppm, and the lower detection limit is 5 ppm. The sensor is fairly selective and not interfered by gases such as CO, CH4, and trimethylamine, and by vapors of methanol and ethanol. It also displays good temporal stability. This is attributed to the bulk-reduced state of TiO2, the presence of oxygen functional groups on GO, and the strong adsorption and rapid diffusion of ammonia. The results also imply the presence of a synergetic effect between TiO2 and GO/PANI, which is probably beneficial for the potential application of the resulting composite as a gas sensor.

A hybrid material consisting of bulk-reduced TiO2, graphene oxide (GO) and polyaniline (PANI) was fabricated by decorating TiO2 with GO, followed by in-situ oxidative chemical polymerization of aniline. The TiO2/GO/PANI sensor exhibits strong signal changes, fast response time (32 s) and recovery time (17 s) to ammonia at room temperature. It also displays good selectivity and temporal stability.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Program for the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC: Account No. 51173172), Science and Technology Opening Cooperation Project of Henan Province (Account No. 132106000076) and the Key Project of Science and Technology of Education Department of Henan Province (Account No. 14 A150003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering and Energy, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450001, China

    Junfeng Tian & Denggao Jiang

  2. Henan Provincial Key Laboratory of Surface and Interface Science, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450001, China

    Junfeng Tian, Guang Yang, Fangfang Su & Zhihong Zhang

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  1. Junfeng Tian
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  2. Guang Yang
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Correspondence to Denggao Jiang or Zhihong Zhang.

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Tian, J., Yang, G., Jiang, D. et al. A hybrid material consisting of bulk-reduced TiO2, graphene oxide and polyaniline for resistance based sensing of gaseous ammonia at room temperature. Microchim Acta 183, 2871–2878 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-1912-6

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