Study on Gas Sensing Properties and Mechanism of WO₃ Nanolamellae/Reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) Nanosheets to Acetylene Gas
Zikai Jiang¹, Weigen Chen², Yujiang He¹, Hongtao Zhang¹, Junsheng Chen^3,*
1 State Grid Chongqing Shiqu Electric Power Supply Branch. Chongqing 400030, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology (Chongqing University), Chongqing 400044, China
3 Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications. Chongqing 400030, China
cqujkk@163.com

Purpose/Aim
The operation conditions of oil immersed power transform will affect the safety and stability of power system and as one of the main fault characteristic gases dissolved in transformer oil, acetylene (C₂H₂) gas can effectively reflect the discharge faults. Besides, the development of functionalized metal oxide/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) hybrid nanocomposites concerning power equipment failure diagnosis is one of the most recent topics.
Experimental/Modeling methods
In this work, WO₃ nanolamellae/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposites with different contents of GO (0.5, 1, 2, 4 wt%) were synthesized via controlled hydrothermal method. Experimental methods like X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, etc were utilized to investigate morphological characterizations of prepared gas sensing materials. Experimental ceramic planar gas sensors coated with experimental materials were finally tested for the sensitivity of multi-concentrations of C₂H₂.
Results/discussion
Sensing materials with 1 wt% GO nanocomposite exhibited the best C₂H₂ sensing performance with lower optimal working temperature, higher sensor response, faster response-recovery time, lower detection limitation, long-term stability.
Conclusions
In this work, high-performance WO₃/rGO nanocomposites were systematically investigated for C₂H₂ gas detection. Besides, the potential gas sensing mechanism corresponding to different ratio of WO₃ and rGO were proposed based on grain boundary theory, formation of p-n heterojunctions and interaction of nano sheets.
 

WO3 nanolamellae,reduced graphene oxide,acetylene sensing performance,gas sensing mechanism