Effects of Stone-Wales defect upon adsorption of formaldehyde on graphene sheet with or without Al dopant: A first principle study

► Adsorption of H2CO on graphene with coexistence of Stone-Wales defect and Al dopant. ► Al atom prefers to occupy a site directly on the rotated bonds in Stone-Wales defect. ► Existence of SW increases the sensitivity of graphene for detecting H2CO without Al. ► Al-doped SW graphene is more sensitive to H2CO than that of Al-doped graphene.