Efficient acetone sensing by Pd nanoparticle loaded graphene Field Effect Transistor

In this work we have reported Pd/GO FET nanocomposite field effect transistor (FET) based acetone sensor. Pd nanoparticle loaded graphene oxide (GO) was prepared by one step spray coating technique at room temperature. The morphological and structural characterizations of developed pure GO and Pd/GO samples were performed with field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Raman spectroscopy and UV-Vis spectroscopy techniques. The effect of gate voltage on sensors at different temperature range (25- 75°C) was investigated by I
DS
-V
GS
characteristic. GO and Pd/GO FET sensors showed optimum response at 50 °C temperature with and without applied gate voltage. The response of Pd/GO FET sensor was around 8 % under zero gate voltage (V
GS
= 0 V) at operating temperature of 50 °C. Due to the application of gate voltage near Dirac point voltage (V
GS
=V
dirac
), both the sensors showed a significant increment in the response magnitude where pure GO exhibited 22 % and Pd/GO exhibited 45 % response in the exposure of 80 ppm acetone at 50°C. The Pd/GO FET sensor showed ~6 times amplification in sensitivity as the consequence of applied gate voltage.