Nanostructured Polypyrrole-Based Ammonia and Volatile Organic Compound Sensors

Abstract

The aim of this review is to summarize the recent progress in the fabrication of efficient nanostructured polymer-based sensors with special focus on polypyrrole. The correlation between physico-chemical parameters, mainly morphology of various polypyrrole nanostructures, and their sensitivity towards selected gas and volatile organic compounds (VOC) is provided. The different approaches of polypyrrole modification with other functional materials are also discussed. With respect to possible sensors application in medicine, namely in the diagnosis of diseases via the detection of volatile biomarkers from human breath, the sensor interaction with humidity is described as well. The major attention is paid to analytes such as ammonia and various alcohols.

A Combined Experimental and Computational Study of Gas Sensing by Cu3SnS4 Nanoparticulate Film: High Selectivity, Stability, and Reversibility for Room Temperature H2S Sensing

“…Gas sensors have been fabricated using metal oxides, polymers, and organic–inorganic hybrid materials for the sensing of a particular analyte. Metal oxide based sensors, for example, SnO 2 , TiO 2 , and CuO/ZnO are the most investigated since they exhibit high sensitivity, fast response, and recovery.…”

Polypyrrole Based Love-Wave Gas Sensor Devices with Enhanced Properties to Ammonia

“…In general, in the literature, NH3 sensors have been fabricated based on semiconductor metal-oxides (MOX) and conductive polymers (CPs). However, MOX are contingent on very high working temperatures (100-400 °C), whereas CPs can operate at room temperature with less power consumption making it more competitive compared to NH3 sensors based on MOX [1].…”

“…CPs such as PPy with various nanoscaled morphologies (e.g., particles, wires, ribbons) have been used in the past for NH3 detection. These materials were mostly integrated with chemo-resistive transducing platforms and despite their great advances, some functional issues such as the low response magnitudes or the moderate limits of detection (LOD) have shown to be still a challenge to be solved [1]. The functionalization of CPs with diverse nanosized materials like noble metals, metal oxides and different types of carbon based materials was found to have a crucial effect on the final sensitivity.…”

“…The functionalization of CPs with diverse nanosized materials like noble metals, metal oxides and different types of carbon based materials was found to have a crucial effect on the final sensitivity. This resulted in dramatically enhanced sensor performance in comparison with nonmodified CPs sensitive layers [1]. The advantages of gravimetric sensors, for instance, surface acoustic waves (SAW), include relatively low cost, easy fabrication, and mainly high sensitivity which result from changes in the mechanical, electrical, and elastic properties of the sensitive layers.…”

vQRS Based on Hybrids of CNT with PMMA-POSS and PS-POSS Copolymers to Reach the Sub-PPM Detection of Ammonia and Formaldehyde at Room Temperature Despite Moisture

“…Several works also mention the use of carbon nanotube-based sensors for the detection of ammonia [17][18][19], but CNTs without functionalization have poor chemical selectivity [20] and the resulting conducting architecture tends to have a poor structural stability when assembled without any binder or matrix [21]. This is why several researchers have experimented the functionalization of CNT by insulating polymers, like PMMA [22] chitosan [23], poly(lactic acid) PLA [24], or intrinsically-conducting polymers (ICP), like poly(pyrrole) (PPy) [25][26][27], poly(thiophene) (PEDOT) [27,28], or poly(aniline) (PANI) [27,28], which can lead to a positive synergy. However, it seems that reaching the ppb range of detection makes the use of nanostructured transducers compulsory, as only the few works using this strategy report such a high sensitivity.…”