Selective detection of NO and NO2 with CNTs-based ionization sensor array

Abstract

The accurate detection of NOx is an important issue, because nitrogen oxides are not only environmental pollutants, but also harm to human health. An array composed of two carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-based ionization sensors with different separations is proposed for NO and NO2 selective detection. The experimental results indicate that the CNTs-based ionization sensor has an intrinsic, monotonically decreasing response to NO or NO2. The sensor with 80 μm separations and 100 μm separations exhibited the highest sensitivity of -0.11 nA/ppm to 300 ppm NO and -0.49 nA /ppm to 70 ppm NO2, respectively. Although the effect of the NO2 concentration on the NO response is much stronger than that of NO on NO2, the array of these two sensors still exhibits the ability to simultaneously detect the concentrations of NO and NO2 in a gas mixture without component separation.