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Title: Theoretical Approach to Evaluate the Gas-Sensing Performance of Graphene Nanoribbon/Oligothiophene Composites

Abstract

Composite formation with graphene is an effective approach to increase the sensitivity of polythiophene (nPT) gas sensors. The interaction mechanism between gaseous analytes and graphene/nPT composite systems is still not clear, and density functional theory calculations are used to explore the interaction mechanism between graphene/nPT nanoribbon composites (with n = 3–9 thiophene units) and gaseous analytes CO, NH3, SO2, and NO2. For the studied analytes, the interaction energy ranges from –44.28 kcal/mol for (C54H30- 3PT)-NO2 to –2.37 kcal/mol for (C54H30-3PT)-CO at the counterpoise-corrected ωB97M-V/def2-TZVPD level of theory. The sensing mechanism is further evaluated by geometric analysis, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, density of-states analysis, calculation of global reactivity indices, and both frontier and natural bond orbital analyses. The variation in the highest occupied molecular orbital/lowest unoccupied molecular orbital gap of the composite indicates the change in conductivity upon complexation with the analyte. Energy decomposition analysis reveals that dispersion and charge transfer make the largest contributions to the interaction energy. The graphene/oligothiophene composite is more sensitive toward these analytes than either component taken alone due to larger changes in the orbital gap. The computational framework established in the present work can be used to evaluate and design graphene/nPT nanoribbon composite materials for gas sensors.

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [3];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4]
  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
  2. Department of Physics, College of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
  3. Institute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590 Pakistan
  4. Department of Chemistry, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
COMSATS Univ. Islamabad, Abbottabad (Pakistan); The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division
OSTI Identifier:
1838215
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1841090; OSTI ID: 1903470
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0008550; SC0008850
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
ACS Omega
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: ACS Omega Journal Volume: 7 Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2470-1343
Publisher:
American Chemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Interaction energies; Composites; Mathematical methods; Layered materials; Two dimensional materials

Citation Formats

Ashraf, Ayesha, Herbert, John M., Muhammad, Shabbir, Farooqi, Bilal Ahmad, Farooq, Umar, Salman, Muhammad, and Ayub, Khurshid. Theoretical Approach to Evaluate the Gas-Sensing Performance of Graphene Nanoribbon/Oligothiophene Composites. United States: N. p., 2022. Web. doi:10.1021/acsomega.1c05863.
Ashraf, Ayesha, Herbert, John M., Muhammad, Shabbir, Farooqi, Bilal Ahmad, Farooq, Umar, Salman, Muhammad, & Ayub, Khurshid. Theoretical Approach to Evaluate the Gas-Sensing Performance of Graphene Nanoribbon/Oligothiophene Composites. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c05863
Ashraf, Ayesha, Herbert, John M., Muhammad, Shabbir, Farooqi, Bilal Ahmad, Farooq, Umar, Salman, Muhammad, and Ayub, Khurshid. Tue . "Theoretical Approach to Evaluate the Gas-Sensing Performance of Graphene Nanoribbon/Oligothiophene Composites". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c05863.
@article{osti_1838215,
title = {Theoretical Approach to Evaluate the Gas-Sensing Performance of Graphene Nanoribbon/Oligothiophene Composites},
author = {Ashraf, Ayesha and Herbert, John M. and Muhammad, Shabbir and Farooqi, Bilal Ahmad and Farooq, Umar and Salman, Muhammad and Ayub, Khurshid},
abstractNote = {Composite formation with graphene is an effective approach to increase the sensitivity of polythiophene (nPT) gas sensors. The interaction mechanism between gaseous analytes and graphene/nPT composite systems is still not clear, and density functional theory calculations are used to explore the interaction mechanism between graphene/nPT nanoribbon composites (with n = 3–9 thiophene units) and gaseous analytes CO, NH3, SO2, and NO2. For the studied analytes, the interaction energy ranges from –44.28 kcal/mol for (C54H30- 3PT)-NO2 to –2.37 kcal/mol for (C54H30-3PT)-CO at the counterpoise-corrected ωB97M-V/def2-TZVPD level of theory. The sensing mechanism is further evaluated by geometric analysis, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, density of-states analysis, calculation of global reactivity indices, and both frontier and natural bond orbital analyses. The variation in the highest occupied molecular orbital/lowest unoccupied molecular orbital gap of the composite indicates the change in conductivity upon complexation with the analyte. Energy decomposition analysis reveals that dispersion and charge transfer make the largest contributions to the interaction energy. The graphene/oligothiophene composite is more sensitive toward these analytes than either component taken alone due to larger changes in the orbital gap. The computational framework established in the present work can be used to evaluate and design graphene/nPT nanoribbon composite materials for gas sensors.},
doi = {10.1021/acsomega.1c05863},
journal = {ACS Omega},
number = 2,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jan 04 00:00:00 EST 2022},
month = {Tue Jan 04 00:00:00 EST 2022}
}

Journal Article:
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https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.1c05863

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