Room temperature gas-sensing properties of multi-walled carbon-nanotubes functionalized with phthalocyanine

6^th International Conference and Exhibition on Materials Science and Engineering

September 12-14, 2016 Atlanta, USA

Anshul Kumar Sharma, R K Bedi and Aman Mahajan

Guru Nanak Dev University, India

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Material Sci Eng

Abstract :

Multi wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have attracted extensive attention in sensing and storage of gases due to their unique one-dimensional carbon nanostructure and electrical properties. On the other hand, due to their high surface areas, central hollow cores and the outside walls, carbon nanotubes can be used as a superior material to adsorb and storage gases, such as oxygen, hydrogen, chlorine and nitrogen oxides. CNTs can respond to both reducing and oxidizing gases through a charge transferring reaction with the gas molecules that changes their conductivity. Multiple research groups have focused on studying and improving the response of CNT-based sensors. Recently, in order to improve the sensing performance of these MWCNTs based sensors, many sensing materials such as conducting polymers, metals and metal oxides have been anchored on the surface of MWCNTs and play important roles in the improvement of the sensitivity and selectivity of the resultant gas sensors. Phthalocyanine (Pc), as an excellent sensing material, has been extensively studied based on its high sensitivities, excellent thermal and chemical stability. The electrical conductivity of phthalocyanine thin films can be changed by the presence of oxidizing or reducing gases. In this work, we have prepared a hybrid material of MWCNTs-COOH and F16CuPc. The formation of F16CuPc/MWCNTs-COOH hybrid was confirmed by UV-Visible, Raman and FT-IR spectroscopy. SEM, TEM and AFM studies revealed that F16CuPc molecules were successfully anchored on the surface of MWCNTs-COOH through �?-�? stacking interaction. Subsequently, a chemi-resistive sensor have been fabricated by drop casting F16CuPc/MWCNTs-COOH hybrid onto alumina substrate. The gas sensing potential of the fabricated hybrid materials has been tested upon exposure to different hazardous gases like NO2, NO, Cl2 and NH3 at different operating temperatures. It has been demonstrated that F16CuPc/MWCNTs-COOH hybrid is highly selective towards Cl2 with minimum detection limit of 100 ppb. The response of sensor increases linearly with increase in Cl2 concentration. The results obtained emphasize on the application of F16CuPc/MWCNTs-COOH hybrid material in Cl2 sensing applications.

Biography :

Email: anshulsharma.phy@gmail.com