The investigation of sensing mechanism of ethanol vapour in polymer-nanostructured carbon composite

Abstract

Abstract:Polymer-nanostructured carbon composites (PNCC) using three different polymers as composite matrix materials (polyvinylacetate (PVAc), polyethylene glycol (PEG) and ethylene-vinylacetate copolymer (EVA)) have been developed. High structure carbon black Printex XE2 (Degussa AG) was used as a composites filler. Ethanol vapour sensor-effect of composites was determined as a change of electrical resistance as the composite was held in ethanol vapour for 30 seconds. Reversibility of electrical resistance of PNCC, response stability and repeatability have been measured and compared. The electrical resistance response of EVA-nanostructured carbon composite (EVA-NCC) to ethanol vapour as a function of vinylacetate content in the copolymer has been evaluated. Promising ethanol vapour sensor-effect has been observed for PEG-NCC followed by PVAc-NCC and EVA-NCC.

Conductive polymer gas sensor for quantitative detection of methanol in Brazilian sugar-cane spirit

“…It may involve swelling of the polymers caused by absorption of the analyte molecules causing changes in the extrinsic conductivity, and/or changes in the intrinsic conductivity due to charge-transfer interactions between the analytes and the polymers (Slater, Watt, Freeman, May, & Weir, 1992). The molecule approximate diameters of water, methanol and ethanol are 2.75, 3.90 and 4.71 Å, respectively (Sakale et al, 2011). Possibly, ethanol molecules are too big to fit in the free volume cavities of the polymer matrix, while water molecules, although smaller, are too lipophobic.…”

BTEX detection with composites of ethylenevinyl acetate and nanostructured carbon

“…1 ). The samples were dried at room temperature [ 20 ]. The schematic structure and the dimensions are illustrated in Fig.…”

“…In our previous works [ 8 – 9 20 – 23 ], we determined that the EVA–CB sensing measurement increases when the layer thickness of EVA–CB is decreased or the vinyl acetate (VA) content in the copolymer is increased.…”

Nanocomposites for Novel Sensing Systems

“…Sakale et al [16,18] describes the procedure of sample making and sensor material geometrical design in detail. Previously, it has been found that Pi-NCC both sensitivity and response stability greatly influence the filler dispersion method used [16].…”