Surface study of platinum decorated graphene towards adsorption of NH3 and CH4

• Pt-decorated graphene was investigated as an adsorbent for NH3 and CH4.
• Much higher adsorption of NH3 and CH4 on Pt-decorated graphene than pristine graphene.
• Higher adsorption of NH3 compared to CH4 on Pt-decorated graphene.
• Pt influences the electronic structure of graphene.

To distinguish the potential of graphene sensors, there is a need to recognize the interaction between graphene sheet and adsorbing molecules. We used density functional theory (DFT) calculations to study the properties of pristine as well as Pt-decorated graphene sheet upon adsorption of NH3 and CH4 on its surface to exploit its potential to be as gas sensors for them. We found much higher adsorption, higher charge transfer, lower intermolecular distance, and higher orbital hybridizing upon adsorption of NH3 and CH4 gas molecules on Pt-decorated graphene compared to pristine graphene. Also our calculations reveal that the adsorption energies on Pt-decorated graphene sheet are in order of NH3 >CH4 which could be corresponded to the order of their sensitivity on this modified surface. We used orbital analysis including density of states as well as frontier molecular orbital study for all analyte-surface systems to more understanding the kind of interaction (physisorption or chemisorption). Consequently, the Pt-decorated graphene can transform the existence of NH3 and CH4 molecules into electrical signal and it may be potentially used as an ideal sensor for detection of NH3 and CH4 in ambient situation.

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