In this study, we demonstrated a highly selective chemiresistive-type NO2 gas sensor using facilely prepared carbon dot (CD)-decorated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The CD-decorated SWCNT suspension was characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-visible spectroscopy, and then spread onto an SiO2/Si substrate by a simple and cost-effective spray-printing method. Interestingly, the resistance of our sensor increased upon exposure to NO2 gas, which was contrary to findings previously reported for SWCNT-based NO2 gas sensors. This is because SWCNTs are strongly doped by the electron-rich CDs to change the polarity from p-type to n-type. In addition, the CDs to SWCNTs ratio in the active suspension was critical in determining the response values of gas sensors; here, the 2:1 device showed the highest value of 42.0% in a sensing test using 4.5 ppm NO2 gas. Furthermore, the sensor selectively responded to NO2 gas (response ~15%), and to other gases very faintly (NO, response ~1%) or not at all (CO, C6H6, and C7H8). We propose a reasonable mechanism of the CD-decorated SWCNT-based sensor for NO2 sensing, and expect that our results can be combined with those of other researches to improve various device performances, as well as for NO2 sensor applications.
Keywords: Carbon dots; gas sensor; nitrogen dioxide; single-walled carbon nanotubes.