Capacitive humidity sensor design based on anodic aluminum oxide

Capacitive humidity sensors based on anodic aluminum oxide (AAO), a material used as a sensing layer for high sensitivity, were investigated. The AAO film has many nanosized pores, giving it a large surface area for absorbing water vapor. Effects of design factors and heating were investigated. A thick porous layer or big pore diameter increases sensitivity because of increase in contact surface area. An electrode of rectangular spiral-shaped type tends to have a slightly higher hysteresis than the interdigitated type, but the rectangular spiral-shaped type is efficient and sensitive if the hysteresis and nonlinearity are reduced by controlling design factors or heating. Although heating reduced the sensitivity, it improved performance parameters such as nonlinearity, hysteresis, response time and temperature dependence. Also, a porous electrode would show a higher sensitivity than a nonporous electrode because of the larger surface area.     

Electronic chip based on self-oriented carbon nanotube microelectrode array to enhance the sensitivity of indoor air pollutants capacitive detection

Highly sensitive capacitive detection is reported for indoor air pollutants, e.g. formaldehyde, toluene, and ammonia gas, at room temperature using an electronic chip with self-oriented carbon nanotube microelectrode array. A remarkable capacitive response is observed owing to the dense entanglement of CNTs and the highly porous 3D structured CNT network on the surface of gold electrode. Such kind of nanotubes can be considered as extended and oriented electrodes. As compared with the effect of spray-casting MWCNTs, the relative capacitance change of the above-mentioned electronic chip is found to increase from 1.8 to 70 by taking ammonia as an example. A model is proposed to explain qualitatively the sensing mechanism of electronic chip.     

A novel ammonia sensor based on high density, small diameter polypyrrole nanowire arrays

A novel sensor based on the PPy nanowire arrays with high density, small diameter (about 50 nm) presented a significantly high surface-to-volume ratio. Conducting polypyrrole (PPy) nanowire arrays were synthesized by electropolymerization in the anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template which was fabricated by two-step anodizing process. Then, two sides of the PPys/AAO were pasted by Si substrates and the AAO template was etched by HF acid. At last, the gold wires were attached on Si substrates, and the sensor came into being. The sensor was sensitive to ammonia at room temperature and showed relatively high response in low concentration and comparatively short response and recovery time.     

Metal (Pd, Pt)-decorated carbon nanotubes for CO and NO sensing

Using the first-principles calculations, we investigated adsorption of CO and NO gas molecules on the Pd- and Pt-decorated single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT). The metal-decorated SWNTs exhibit strong affinity toward the gas molecules. Our results reveal that the CO and NO gas molecules can be chemisorbed on the Pd or Pt atom, accompanying with the large binding energy and significant charge transfer. Adsorption of these gases would affect the electronic conductance of the materials, which can serve as a signal of gas sensor. In particular, adsorption of NO generates the magnetic properties to the metal-decorated SWNT, which can also serve as a sensitive signal for chemical sensors. After adsorption of CO and NO, the changes in binding energy, charge transfer and conductance may lead to the different response in the metal-doped CNT-based sensors. It is expected that these results could provide helpful information for the design and fabrication of the CO and NO sensing devices.     

Preparation of chemical vapor sensing materials from composites of esterified poly(vinyl alcohol) and carbon black

Poly(vinyl alcohol) was modified by esterification to prepare poly(vinyl alcohol) copolymers. The degree of esterification on poly(vinyl alcohol) was elucidated by FTIR, ¹H NMR, and elemental analysis. The obtained products were poly(vinyl benzoate)-co-poly(vinyl alcohol) (B-PVA) and poly(vinyl p-toluoate)-co-poly(vinyl alcohol) (P-PVA). The chemical vapor sensors were fabricated by the mixtures of polymer and carbon black in dimethyl sulfoxide and their subsequent preparation as thin films onto the interdigited electrodes by the application of the spin-coating technique. The chemical vapor sensing properties of the sensors were examined with various solvents, such as hexane, toluene, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, tetrahydrofuran, ethyl acetate, acetonitrile, dimethyl sulfoxide, and water. The experimental results indicated that modifying the chemical structure of PVA results in the decreased polarity of the obtained products. The composites of modified PVA consequently responded well to low polarity solvents, such as THF or ethyl acetate.     

Nanostructural ZnO based coplanar gas sensor arrays from the injection of metal chloride solutions: Device processing, gas-sensing properties and selectivity in liquors applications

A new coplanar gas sensor array of ZnO was fabricated by injecting different volumes of 0.01 mol/L AlCl₃, CuCl₂, SnCl₄, TiCl₄, PdCl₂ and WCl₆ solutions and post treatment to improve the selectivity in liquor. The new four-sensor array was optimized by maximizing Sum of Euclidean distances (SED) of the gases of liquor. The morphology of films was characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The results showed that ZnO nanostructures were formed on the surface of films after the injecting process. Nanowires, 100 nm in diameter and 3 μm in length, were found when the solutions included AlCl₃, CuCl₂, SnCl₄ and PdCl₂. However, when the injecting solution was TiCl₄, nanotowers with 500 nm in diameter and 4 μm in length appeared. No new structures appeared when the WCl₆ solution was injected. The results of testing gases of liquor revealed that the injecting process could improve the response of the sensors array effectively. Through calculating the value of the SED, the best array was confirmed whose SED value would be three times the worst one.