Ferrocene-decorated graphene nanosheets built by edge-to-face π-π interaction for room temperature ppb-level NO sensing

Lulu Zhang; Yixun Gao; Yancong Feng; Zhijian Mai; Jianqiang Wang; Yanwei Chang; Fengnan Wang; Hao Li; Peerasak Paoprasert; Yi-Kuen Lee; Paddy J French; Ahmad M Umar Siddiqui; Guofu Zhou; Yao Wang

doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2024.127365

Ferrocene-decorated graphene nanosheets built by edge-to-face π-π interaction for room temperature ppb-level NO sensing

Talanta. 2024 Dec 12:285:127365. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2024.127365. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectronics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology, Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510006, PR China.
² National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectronics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology, Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510006, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Department of Thoracic Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510006, PR China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, 12121, Thailand.
⁵ Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Department of Electronic & Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
⁶ BE Laboratory, EWI, Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2628CD, the Netherlands.
⁷ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Arts and Promising Centre for Sensors and Electronic Devices (PCSED), Najran University, Najran, 11001, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectronics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology, Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510006, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 39700718
DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2024.127365

Abstract

The development of materials toward ppb-level nitric oxide (NO) sensing at room temperature remains in high demand for the monitoring of respiratory inflammatory diseases. In order to find an iron-containing molecule without steric hindrance to combine with graphene for room temperature NO gas sensing, here a supramolecular assembly of ferrocene (Fc) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was designed and prepared for NO sensing. The assembly of Fc/rGO was characterized using FT-IR, TEM, and XPS measurements. The Fc/rGO-based sensors exhibited superior NO sensing properties at room temperature including high response (R_a/R_g = 1.73, 1 ppm), high selectivity against other exhaled gases, reliable repeatability and stability (less than 4 % decrease after 40 days). A practical limit of detection (LOD) of 200 ppb was achieved. The theoretical simulation demonstrates that ferrocene is assembled via π-π interaction with rGO in edge-to-face configuration which provides relatively lower energy than face-to-face configuration does for the whole assembly. It was first verified that the enhanced adsorption capacity and the charge transfer between NO and Fc/rGO would result in improvement of the assembly's sensitivity toward NO after ferrocene was assembled with graphene. This work provides a fresh approach of anchoring iron on graphene for gas sensing via supramolecular methods.

Keywords: Ferrocene; Gas sensor; Graphene; Nitric oxide; Supramolecular assembly; π-π interaction.