Capacitance and resistivity measurements of polythiophene /metallic nanoparticles-based humidity sensors

Abstract

Capacitive-resistive humidity sensors based on polythiophene (P3HT) organic semiconductor as an active material hybrid with three types of metallic nanoparticles (NP) (Ag, Al, and Cu) were synthesized by pulsed laser ablation (PLA). The hybrid P3HT/metallic nanoparticles were deposited on indium-tin-oxide (ITO) substrate at room temperature. The surface morphology of theses samples was studied by using field emission scanning electron micrographs (FE-SEM), which indicated the formation of nanoparticles with grain size of about 50nm. The electrical characteristics of the sensors were examined as a function of the relative humidity levels. The sensors showed an increase in the capacitance with variation in the humidity level. While the resistivity While the resistivity decrease nonlinearity in the variation of humidity level from 10% to 100%.. The results show that the recovery and response times were higher for the Al/P3HT/Cu/Al sensor compared with those of the other nanoparticles.