Nano‐TATB was prepared by solvent/nonsolvent recrystallization with concentrated sulfuric acid as solvent and water as nonsolvent. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) were used to characterize the appearance and the size of the particles. The results revealed that nano‐TATB particles have the shape of spheres or ellipsoids with a size of about 60 nm. Due to their small diameter and high surface energy, the particles tended to agglomerate. By using X‐ray powder diffraction (XRD), broadening of diffraction peaks and decreasing intensity were observed, when the particle sizes decreases to the nanometer size range. The corrected average particle size of nano‐TATB was estimated using the Scherrer equation and the size ranged from 27 nm to 41 nm. Furthermore, the specific surface area and pore diameter of nano‐TATB were determined by BET method. The values were 22 m2/g and 1.7 nm respectively. Thermogravimetric (TG) and Differential Scanning Calorimetric (DSC) curves revealed that thermal decomposition of nano‐TATB occurs in the range of 356.5 °C–376.5 °C and its weight loss takes place at about 230 °C. Furthermore, a slight increase in the weight loss was observed for nano‐TATB in comparison with micro‐TATB.

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The reliable, high-sensitive, wireless, and affordable requirements for humidity sensors are needed in high-precision measurement fields. Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) based on the piezoelectric effect can accurately detect the mass changes at the nanogram level. However, water-capture materials deposited on the surface of QCM generally show disadvantages in either cost, sensitivity, or recyclability. Herein, novel QCM-based humidity sensors (NQHSs) are developed by uniformly depositing green microspheres (GMs) of natural polymers prepared by the chemical synthesis of the emulsification/inner gel method on QCM as humidity-sensitive materials. The NQHSs demonstrate high accuracy and sensitivity (27.1 Hz/% RH) owing to the various hydrophilic groups and porous nano-3D deposition structure. Compared with the devices deposited with a smooth film, the frequency of the NQHSs shows almost no changes during the cyclic test and exhibits long-term stability. The NQHSs have been successfully applied to non-contact sensing human activities and remote real-time humidity monitoring via Bluetooth transmission. In addition, the deposited humidity-sensitive GMs and QCM substrate are fully recycled and reused (72% of the original value). This work has provided an innovative idea to construct environmental-friendly, high-sensitivity, and wireless humidity sensors.

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