Highly sensitive and selective chlorobenzene vapor sensor based on ZIF-8/GO one-dimensional photonic crystal

In this study, one-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPC) chlorobenzene sensors assembled by ZIF-8, GO, and TiO2 were proposed. The optical properties of 1DPC based on ZIF-8, GO, and TiO2 were studied by varying the number of periods, and the optimized structure of 1DPC based on ZIF-8, TiO2, and GO was to be 2-period. In comparison to the ZIF-8/TiO2 1DPC sensor, the fabricated ZIF-8/GO 1DPC sensor showed better optical sensing properties of chlorobenzene vapor, which showed stronger selectivity, higher sensitivity, and lower limit of detection (0.55 ppm). The sensitivity of the ZIF-8/GO 1D PC sensor (0.18 nm/ppm) is almost 3 times higher than that of ZIF-8/TiO2 1D PC sensor (0.05 nm/ppm) at 0–100 ppm concentration of chlorobenzene vapor. The relationship between the reflected spectra shifts and chlorobenzene of low concentrations was presented to be high linearity. Moreover, the ZIF-8/GO 1DPC sensor showed ultrafast response time (500 ms), outstanding stability, and recyclability. The mechanism of 1DPC sensor based on ZIF-8/GO for enhancing the selectivity and sensitivity to chlorobenzene was also discussed. Given its excellent properties, ZIF-8/GO 1DPC sensor can be an attractive option of high-performance chlorobenzene sensor for environmental quality monitoring.