Novel green phosphorene as a superior gas sensor for dissolved gas analysis in oil transformers: using DFT method

ABSTRACT

Regarding recent attempts for monitoring dissolved gases in oil transformers, in this paper, novel green phosphorene (GP), a new type of two-dimensional gas sensitive material was modified by transition metal decoration. We applied first-principles calculations based on Density functional theory and investigated the structures and electronic properties of H₂, CH₄, and C₂H₂ (dissolved gases) molecules adsorbed on the pristine, and metal decorated (Pt, and Pd) GP monolayer to understand its performance as a sensor. This analysis indicated that Pt-GP could be a satisfying material for C₂H₂ sensing at specific conditions, while it is unsuitable for detection of CH₄, and H₂ due to the weak interaction and short recovery time. The adsorption energy (E_ad) of C₂H₂ on Pd-, Pt-GP systems is −1.18, and −1.84 eV, respectively, and 4, and 2 times more electrons were transferred from the C₂H₂ molecule to the systems, respectively in comparison with the pristine GP. Moreover, Pd-GP has a recovery time of 9.68 s under visible light at 350 K indicating that it is suitable for reusability, and it has a good sensitivity of 65.9% toward C₂H₂ molecule. Our results showed that the metal-decorated GP sensors are excellent candidates for analyzing dissolved gases in oil-based transformers.

KEYWORDS:

• Green phosphorene
• gas sensor
• DFT
• metal decoration
• oil transformers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

The authors contributed equally.