Dataset for Highly sensitive gas and ethanol vapor sensors based on carbon heterostructures for room temperature detection

Dataset for article: Highly sensitive gas and ethanol vapor sensors based on carbon heterostructures for room temperature detection

ABSTRACT: Graphene oxides (GOs) and hydrogen-terminated nanocrystalline diamonds (H‑NCD) have attracted considerable attention due to their unique electronic structure and extraordinary physical and chemical properties in various applications, including gas sensing. Currently, there is a significant focus on air quality and the presence of pollutants (NH₃, NO₂ etc.), as well as volatile organic compounds (VOC) such as ethanol vapor from industry. This study examines the synthesis of GO, reduced graphene oxide (rGO), thiol-functionalized graphene oxide (SH‑GO), and H‑NCD thin films and their combination in heterostructures. The materials were analyzed for their ability to detect NO₂, NH₃, and ethanol vapor at room temperature (22 °C). Among the tested materials, the SH-GO / H‑NCD heterostructure exhibited the highest sensitivity, with approximately 630 % for ethanol vapor, 41 % for NH₃ and −19 % for NO₂. The SH-GO / H‑NCD heterostructure also demonstrated reasonable response (272 seconds) and recovery (34 seconds) times. Cross-selectivity measurements revealed that the heterostructure's response to ethanol vapor at 100 ppm remained dominant and was minimally affected by the presence of NH₃ (100 ppm) or CO₂ (100 ppm). The response variations were −1.3 % for NO₂ and 2.4 % for NH₃, respectively. These findings suggest that this heterostructure has the potential to be used as an active layer in low-temperature gas sensors. Furthermore, this research proposes a primary mechanism that explains the enhanced sensor response of the heterostructure compared to bare GOs and H‑NCD layers.