Pd-loaded MoS2 Nanoflowers for Enhanced Room-temperature Methanol Sensing

Abstract

Rapid increase in environmental pollution has created a critical need for the highly sensitive detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These compounds play a vital role across various sectors, spanning industries such as healthcare, environmental surveillance, as well as the food and agriculture sectors. Pristine MoS2 and (1, 2, and 4%) Pd-loaded MoS2 are produced through a simple hydrothermal synthesis technique. Surface morphology, crystal structure, elemental composition, and surface area were thoroughly analyzed. Sensing performance of the synthesized pristine and Pd-loaded MoS2 nanoflowers nanostructure under dynamic flow gas sensing setup at room temperature. 2% Pd-loaded MoS2 exhibits 6.5 times response (65%) compare to pristine MoS2 response (10%) to 100 ppm methanol exposure. Furthermore, the 2% Pd-loaded MoS2 sensor exhibits 6.6 ppb of limit of detection (LoD) and 21.7 ppb of limit of qualification (LoQ) values. Rapid transient performance of the fabricated sensor with 35 and 43.2 seconds response and recovery time, respectively. The fabricated 2% Pd-loaded MoS2 sensor exhibits excellent reproducibility, repeatability and ultraselective behavior toward methanol gas in order to avoid the interference in the measurement by other gases. © 2001-2012 IEEE.