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Research Article

Highly sensitive humidity sensors based on hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets for contactless sensing

Hang Liu1,§, Jinxu Qin1,§, Xigui Yang1,2( ), Chaofan Lv1, Wentao Huang1, Fukui Li1, Chuang Zhang1, Yanran Wu1, Lin Dong1, Chongxin Shan1,2( )
Henan Key Laboratory of Diamond Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Ministry of Education, School of Physics & Microelectronics, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China
Institute of Quantum materials and Physics, Henan Academy of Sciences, Zhengzhou 450046, China

§ Hang Liu and Jinxu Qin contributed equally to this work.

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Graphical Abstract

Humidity sensors based on hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets that are synthesized by a facile process have been fabricated, which display rapid adsorption and desorption of water molecules. Benefiting from the high humidity sensing performances, contactless Morse code messaging and speech recognition have been demonstrated.

Abstract

Humidity sensors with high sensitivity, rapid response, and facile fabrication process for contactless sensing applications have received considerable attention in recent years. Herein, humidity sensors based on hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) nanosheets that are synthesized by a facile ultrasonic process have been fabricated, which display an ultrahigh sensitivity of 28,384% at 85% relative humidity (RH), rapid response/recovery time (3.0/5.5 s), and long-term stability in a wide humidity detection range (11%–85% RH), superior to most of the reported humidity sensors. The high sensitivity can be ascribed to the massive hydrophilic functional groups absorbed on the h-BN nanosheet surface. Benefiting from the high humidity sensing performances, contactless Morse code messaging and human writing and speech recognition have been demonstrated. This work demonstrates the great potential of the high-performance h-BN nanosheet-based humidity sensors for future contactless sensing devices.

Keywords

boron nitridehumidity sensorscontactless detectionspeech recognition

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Nano Research
Volume 16 Issue 7,
July 2023
Pages 10279-10286
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-023-5837-1
Cite this article:
Liu H, Qin J, Yang X, et al. Highly sensitive humidity sensors based on hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets for contactless sensing. Nano Research, 2023, 16(7): 10279-10286. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5837-1
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Received: 23 March 2023
Revised: 15 May 2023
Accepted: 17 May 2023
Published: 30 June 2023
© Tsinghua University Press 2023
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