Biomimetic Turbinate-like Artificial Nose for Hydrogen Detection Based on 3D Porous Laser-Induced Graphene

Abstract

Inspired by the turbinate structure in the olfaction system of a dog, a biomimetic artificial nose based on 3D porous laser-induced graphene (LIG) decorated with palladium (Pd) nanoparticles (NPs) has been developed for room-temperature hydrogen (H-2) detection. A 3D porous biomimetic turbinate-like network of graphene was synthesized by simply irradiating an infrared laser beam onto a polyimide substrate, which could further be transferred onto another flexible substrate such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to broaden its application. The sensing mechanism is based on the catalytic effect of the Pd NPs on the crystal defect of the biomimetic LIG turbinate-like microstructure, which allows facile adsorption and desorption of the nonpolar H-2 molecules. The sensor demonstrated an approximately linear sensing response to H-2 concentration. Compared to chemical vapor-deposited (CVD) graphene-based gas sensors, the biomimetic turbinate-like microstructure LIG-gas sensor showed similar to 1 time higher sensing performance with much simpler and lower-cost fabrication. Furthermore, to expand the potential applications of the biomimetic sensor, we modulated the resistance of the biomimetic LIG sensor by varying laser sweeping gaps and also demonstrated a well-transferred LIG layer onto transparent substrates. Moreover, the LIG sensor showed good mechanical flexibility and robustness for potential wearable and flexible device applications.