10-Millisecond Flash Boosts Nitrogen Dioxide Sensing
10-millisecond flash synthesis helped Hanyang University-ERICA and KAIST improve room-temperature nitrogen dioxide sensor responses.
By Academic Writing Club Newsroom
Hanyang University-ERICA and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) researchers used a 10-millisecond light pulse to create a gas-sensing material that delivered a 23.6-fold stronger response to 5 parts per million of nitrogen dioxide than a conventional method. The project heated a precursor to as high as 1,811°C before rapidly cooling it in ambient air. Adding 1.2 weight% platinum produced a sensor response of 100.8% at 400 parts per billion of nitrogen dioxide at room temperature. The researchers suggest the synthesis strategy could also be explored for catalysts used in clean-energy technologies and other advanced materials and energy conversion.
Flash Synthesis Process
The research was jointly led by Professor Il-Doo Kim of KAIST and Assistant Professor Dong-Ha Kim of Hanyang University-ERICA, with Dr. Euichul Shin of KAIST as first author. Flash thermal synthesis used intense-pulsed light to turn a molybdenum-containing precursor into thin molybdenum disulfide flakes while incorporating platinum, iridium or gold atoms in the same step.
The paper was made available online on July 7, 2026, and published in Advanced Materials on September 21, 2026.
Dong-Ha Kim, Assistant Professor at Hanyang University-ERICA, said:
“The important advance is that we can form the sensing material and add isolated catalyst atoms in one rapid step, without needing a prolonged furnace treatment,”
Sensor Test Results
The brief heating limited the growth of large flakes and kept metal atoms dispersed rather than forming agglomerated metal nanoparticles. The platinum-enhanced sensor detected nitrogen dioxide at concentrations as low as 17.2 parts per billion, showed selectivity compared with several other tested gases, and retained a stable response through 25 exposure-and-recovery cycles.
After three weeks in ambient air, its response had declined by only 2.6%. Calculations indicated that platinum atoms strengthened the interaction between the material and nitrogen dioxide.
Dong-Ha Kim, Assistant Professor at Hanyang University-ERICA, said:
“By adjusting the active sites on the material, this approach could help make sensitive and selective gas detection more practical, while offering a flexible way to prepare other functional nanomaterials,”
Further Testing Needed
The process used 8.6 kilojoules of electrical energy per gram and may offer a route toward more scalable production than methods requiring hours of heating. The sensors were tested in a laboratory setup, and their performance in varied outdoor conditions and commercial devices still needs evaluation.
The researchers suggest that the strategy could also be explored for catalysts used in clean-energy technologies, advanced materials and energy conversion.
