Wearable gas sensor utilising dye-functionalised single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT)

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted considerable interest due to their unique properties and vast potential in electronic applications. CNTs show sensitivity towards changes in local environment due to their large surface area and hollow geometry that make CNTs able to detect small concentrations of molecules, including industrial pollutant such as N02• The ability to monitor N02 in the air is important as this gas influences the growth of agriculture and causes respiratory problems. Recently, metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) and solid electrolyte (SE) sensors are used for gas detection; however these sensors operate at high operating temperatures. For this invention, direct golden orange dye was used as a dispersing agent for SWCNTs suspension in water. Uniform thin film was fabricated using vacuum filtration method with different concentrations of SWCNTs and transferred to glass substrate. This sensor operates at room temperature.