Suspended graphene-based gas sensor with 1-mW energy consumption

Abstract

Abstract: This paper presents NH3 sensing with ultra-low energy consumption for fast recovery and a graphene sheet based on a suspended microheater. Sensitivity and repeatability are important characteristics of functional gas sensors embedded in mobile devices. Moreover, low energy consumption is an essential requirement in flexible and stretchable mobile electronics due to their small dimension and fluctuating resistivity during mechanical behavior. In this paper, we introduce a graphene-based ultra-low power gas detection device with integration of a suspended silicon heater. Dramatic power reduction is enabled by a duty cycle while not sacrificing sensitivity. The new oscillation method of heating improves the sensitivity of 0.049 (ΔR/R0) measured at a flow rate of 18.8 sccm NH3(g) for 70 s. Our experimental tests show that a 60% duty cycle does not sacrifice sensitivity or recovery by dropping the total power consumption from 1.76 mW to 1.05 mW. The aforementioned low energy consuming gas sensor platformnot only attracts environmentally-related industries, but also has the potential to be applied to flexible and stretchable mobile electronic devices.