Cellulose-Copper Oxide hybrid nanocomposites membranes for H2S gas detection at low temperatures

Abstract

We report on novel, sensitive, selective and low-temperature hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) gas sensors based on metal-oxide nanoparticles incorporated within polymeric matrix composites. the copper-Oxide (CuO) nanoparticles were prepared by a colloid microwave-assisted hydrothermal method that enables precise control of nanoparticle size. The sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) powder with 5% glycerol ionic liquid (IL) was prepared and mixed with different concentrations of CuO NPs (2.5-7.5 wt.%) to produce flexible and semi-conductive polymeric matrix membranes. Each membrane was then sandwiched between a pair of electrodes to produce an H 2 S gas sensor. the temperature-dependent gas sensing characteristics of the prepared sensors were investigated over the temperature ranges from 40 °C to 80 °C. The sensors exhibited high sensitivity and reasonably fast responses to H 2 S gas at low working temperatures and at a low gas concentration of 15 ppm. Moreover, the sensors were highly selective to H 2 S gas, and they showed low humidity dependence, which indicates reliable functioning in humid atmospheres. This organic-inorganic hybrid-materials gas sensor is flexible, with good sensitivity and low power consumption has the potential to be used in harsh environments.Hydrogen sulfide gas (H 2 S) is a major air pollutant that is produced in a large quantity from industrial fields such as petroleum and gas drilling and refining, sewage treatment, coke ovens, kraft paper mills, and landfills 1,2 . H 2 S gas is toxic gas with a malodor of rotten eggs. It can damage human respiratory and nerve systems, causing the public to lose consciousness with a possibility to die at minimal concentrations as low as a few hundreds of ppm 3-5 . Therefore, improving H 2 S sensors in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, response time, power consumption, and the cost is needed for environmental and safety concerns.Different materials and methods have been reported in the literature for H 2 S gas detection, including electrochemical (solid electrolyte) sensors 5 , optical sensors 6,7 , piezoelectric sensors 8,9 , and oxide-semiconductor sensors 10,11 . However, most of these sensors developed using such methods suffer from high fabrication cost, high power consumption, poor stability, and malfunction in harsh environment 12,13 . Therefore, these sensors have been under continuous development to meet the growing demand of high-performance sensors. Metal-oxide semiconducting nanoparticles based sensors are the most promising materials for the H 2 S gas detection; they are cost-effective, easy to operate and fast in response with high sensitivity to the target gas 14,15 . Therefore, the development of new sensors that include polymer membranes and metal-oxide nanoparticles (organic-inorganic sensors) is expected to enhance the functionalities of such sensors; as they are flexible, easy to fabricate, and can be operated at low temperature with a low electrical power requirement [14][15][16] . Metal-oxide based sensors are flexible, easy to fabricate,...

Recent advances in cellulose-based membranes for their sensing applications

“…The introduction of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) with large specific surface and more reactive sites can improve the chemical reactivity and sensitivity of metal oxide semiconducting polymer membranes for gas sensing (Tanvir et al 2016). Saleh t. Mahmoud and co-workers reported a novel semiconductor membrane sandwiched between a pair of electrodes for H 2 S sensing, which was prepared by CuO NPs (via a colloid microwave-assisted hydrothermal method) and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) powder with glycerol ionic liquid (5%) through the solution casting method (Hittini et al 2020). When the optimum concentration of CuO was 5%, the nanoparticles were uniformly distributed in the membrane and no agglomeration.…”

“…The raw materials for cellulose membranes preparation can include ethyl cellulose, cellulose nanofibers, cellulose nanocrystals, cellulose acetate, triacetyl cellulose, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, nitrocellulose, etc. (Fu et al 2019;Zhu et al 2019a, b;Li et al 2017a, b, c;Amin 2015;Duong et al 2018;Hittini et al 2020;Tang et al 2019). The excellent sensing performances can be obtained by introducing metal nanowires, metal nanoparticles, carbon dots, quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, fluorophores, organic dyes and antigen-antibodies into cellulose membranes through physical-chemical methods (Lou et al 2020;Zhang et al 2019a, b, c;Jiang et al 2020a, b;Li et al 2017a, b, c;Lv et al 2019a, b;Shankar et al 2020).…”

Broadband Microwave Signal Dissipation in Nanostructured Copper Oxide at Air‐film Interface**

“…Such media supported metal oxides are advantageous in affording larger surface to volume ratios, thus presenting larger reactive surfaces for gas interaction [15,30]. A nanostructured CuO supported on semiconducting polymer membrane, such as cellulose, for gas sensing, has been demonstrated.…”

Structural and thermal characterization of cellulose and copper oxide modified cellulose obtained from bamboo plant fibre

“…The incorporation of nanoparticles into cellulose to form nanocomposites is still another emerging area that finds applications in biomedicine, water treatment, bioelectronics, sensing and so on. Hittini [8], reported the efficient application of CuO-cellulose nanocomposites for the detection of H 2 S gas and offer interesting attributes such as sensitivity, selectivity, energy saving and compactness.…”