Effect of porosity on response behavior of carbon black- PMMA conductive composite sensors toward organic vapors

Abstract

We describe herein the fabrication of novel porous conductive composite vapor sensors characterized by different porosities and specific surface areas. These samples were obtained by dry-cast non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method. We have studied porous composite structures by SEM, BET and water evaporation method. Testing to different concentrations of several organic vapors, the porous sensors showed improved sensitivities and response times, compared to their dense counterpart. Improved characteristics of the sensor response were related to better sorption properties of sensing film due to increased porosity and specific surface area obtained by this method of film fabrication. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.