Room-temperature NH(3) sensing of graphene oxide film and its enhanced response on the laser-textured silicon

Electricity-based response to NH(3) of graphene oxide (GO) is demonstrated at ppm level at room temperature. The GO film prepared on planar silicon substrate shows weak response when exposed to 50 ppm NH(3), response time less than 30 s and recovery time about 100 s. More interestingly, the GO film coated on laser-textured silicon substrate shows significant enhancement for sensor response, and meanwhile response/recovery time is mainly preserved. Furthermore, a good response of textured GO film is detected in a dynamic range of 5–100 ppm NH(3). The surface morphology and chemical bonds of the textured GO film are studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectrometer and X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS), respectively. The NH(3) response is attributed to the polar oxygen configurations of GO and the enhanced response is due to the richer oxygen configurations that stem from cobwebby microstructure of GO.