Graphene oxide coupled with gold nanoparticles for localized surface plasmon resonance based gas sensor

• Published in: Carbon (New York) Vol. 69; pp. 452 - 459
• Main Authors: Cittadini, Michela, Bersani, Marco, Perrozzi, Francesco, Ottaviano, Luca, Wlodarski, Wojtek, Martucci, Alessandro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Carbon; Chemistry; Collective excitations (including excitons, polarons, plasmons and other charge-density excitations); Colloidal state and disperse state; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Flakes; Fullerenes and related materials; diamonds, graphite; Gas sensors; General and physical chemistry; Gold; Graphene; Materials science; Nanoparticles; Nanopowders; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Oxides; Physical and chemical studies. Granulometry. Electrokinetic phenomena; Physics; Plasmons; Specific materials; Surface and interface electron states; Nanoparticles; Gold; Transition elements; Surface plasmon resonance; Graphene oxide; Sensors; Gas sensors
• ISSN: 0008-6223; 1873-3891
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2013.12.048

An optical gas sensor was prepared by depositing graphene oxide flakes over a monolayer of gold nanoparticles, chemically attached to a functionalized fused silica substrate. The coupling between flakes and nanoparticles lead to optical changes upon exposure to different gases: in particular, we observed a shift of the surface plasmon resonance band in presence of both reducing and oxidizing gases. This effect can be explained in terms of a strong gold–graphene interaction and specifically of electron transfer between the gold nanoparticles and the two-dimensional sheet of the sp2-hybridized carbons of graphene oxide.