A flexible ammonia sensor based on MXene membrane with high sensitivity

Ammonia (NH3) of high concentration will pose a threat to ecological environment or human health, and exhaled NH3 is significant in disease monitoring and diagnosis. Thus, developing a highly sensitive gas sensor is significant to monitor NH3 concentration in complex environments. However, traditional NH3 sensors either need high working temperature, or face the challenge of poor conductivity/ sensitivity. In this work, NH3 sensors based on self-assembled MXene membrane have been fabricated. As-prepared sensors show a high sensitivity of 2.10 ppm-1 towards extremely low concentrations of NH3 (ppb level) at room temperature, attributed to large surface area and high conductivity. In addition, the sensors also display low detection limit (50 ppb), fast response time (41 s), good recoverability, long-term stability (15 days) and excellent flexibility (1000 bending cycles) towards NH3. The results provide insights into the development of highly sensitive NH3 sensors for industrial or biomedical applications. image