A room temperature VOCs gas sensor based on a layer by layer multi-walled carbon nanotubes/poly-ethylene glycol composite

Abstract

Sensitive detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is significant for environmental monitoring and medical applications. In this work, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) that have good adsorption for VOCs, were sprayed layer by layer on an interdigitated electrode (IDE) to build a sensitive VOCs gas sensor. The relative resistance change (△R/R) when the sensor was exposed to VOCs was measured. The sensor showed high sensitivity to acetone, ethanol, isopropanol and isoprene with fast response (110 ± 5 s) and recovery (152 ± 5 s) at room temperature, and the lower detection limit (LDL) of the sensor reached 9 ppm. With the micro-fabricated IDE structure, the sensor can be easily built into an electric nose for VOC recognition and measurement.