Enhancement of CO detection in Al doped graphene

TL;DR

This study uses density functional theory to demonstrate that doping graphene with aluminum significantly enhances its ability to chemisorb and detect CO gas by increasing electrical conductivity changes upon adsorption.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel approach of Al doping in graphene to improve CO sensing performance through theoretical analysis.

Findings

Al doped graphene exhibits strong chemisorption of CO via Al-CO bonds.

CO adsorption increases electrical conductivity in Al doped graphene.

Intrinsic graphene shows weak physisorption of CO.

Abstract

A principle of enhancement CO adsorption was developed theoretically by using density functional theory through doping Al into graphene. The results show that the Al doped graphene has strong chemisorption of CO molecule by forming Al-CO bond, where CO onto intrinsic graphene remains weak physisorption. Furthermore, the enhancement of CO sensitivity in the Al doped graphene is determined by a large electrical conductivity change after adsorption, where CO absorption leads to increase of electrical conductivity upon via introducing large amount of shallow acceptor states. Therefore, this newly developed Al doped graphene would be an excellent candidate for sensing CO gas.