Phosphorene: A promising candidate for highly sensitive and selective SF6 decomposition gas sensors

Phosphoreneis a promising candidate for gas sensing materials. This letter describes our study of the adsorption of SF6 and SF6 decomposition gases (SO₂ and H₂ S) on phosphorene. We used first principles calculations to explore phosphorene's potential applications as gas sensor to diagnose the state of online gas insulated switchgear (GIS). The calculation results showed that only the adsorption of SO₂ induced a moderate adsorption energy and apparent charge transfer. We further investigated the current-voltage (I-V) relationships before and after gas absorption through the non-equilibrium Green's function method. It was found that only SO₂ induced a dramatic change in the I -V relationships. Therefore, phosphoreneappears to be a promising candidate for highly sensitive and selective SF₆ decomposition gas sensors for online GIS diagnosis.