Recent advances and synergistic interactions in graphene-based polymer nanocomposites for enhanced gas sensing applications

Gas sensors are often employed to monitor and control the process in residential buildings, factories, and mines as they detect flammable, explosive, and hazardous gases used for safety purposes. It shows significant interest in transferring graphene`s exceptional mechanical, physical, and electrical capabilities to polymeric materials using graphene and its derivatives as filler materials. There are several different ways to synthesize graphene and chemically modified graphene, each with its own set of benefits in terms of scale of production, processing efficiency, and safety. Graphene-based composites have a lot of potential, and one area they might be used to protect people and the planet is through gas sensing by monitoring the environment and identifying potentially dangerous chemicals. Gas sensors have become important component in various industries such as manufacturing, environmental protection, process control, and automotive. They are essential in the development of new materials and applications. Graphene, with its unique electrical and mechanical properties, has been extensively investigated for the fabrication of sensing devices. The distinct properties of graphene, with its high specific surface area, offer major opportunities for the chemical functionalization and immobilization of (biological) molecules, expanding the range of potential applications in gas sensing. This review article provides a summary of recent progress made toward Graphene/Polymer Nanocomposites (GPNs) with sensing capabilities suitable for tracking the changes in the natural and anthropogenic environments. The efficacy of GPNs for the detection of various types of natural and anthropogenic gases has emphasized in this study. The review includes the functionalization of graphene with metal oxide or noble metals, modifying the properties of graphene with molecules of organic material, and nanostructural technology. The efficacy and capabilities of gas-sensing materials can be substantially impacted by the design of sensor devices which are improved by incorporating multifunctional features. Also, the challenges with existing graphene-based gas sensors and possible solutions are discussed.