Ammonia sensing properties of organic inks deposited on flexible subtrates

Abstract

Highly conducting inks based on polyaniline (PANI), are obtained by doping emeraldine base with dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA), in a mixture of chlorobenzene/water/ propanol. Compact and homogeneous thin films developed by casting the inks on transparencies, are found to have sheet resistance in the 10 kΩ square range. Inexpensive devices with remarkable potentiality as disposable ammonia sensors, are developed by applying on transparencies linearly shaped carbon nanotubes electrodes, spaced by hundreds microns, coated with sensitive layers consisting of PANI-DBSA inks. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.