Aerosol-Synthesized Surfactant-Free Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube-Based NO2 Sensors : Unprecedentedly High Sensitivity and Fast Recovery

Sihyeok Kim, Jiye Han, Jin Myung Choi, Jeong Seok Nam, Il Hyun Lee, Yeounggyu Lee, Ilya V. Novikov, Esko I. Kauppinen*, Keekeun Lee*, Il Jeon*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study pioneers a chemical sensor based on surfactant-free aerosol-synthesized single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) films for detecting nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Unlike conventional CNTs, the SWCNTs used in this study exhibit one of the highest surface-to-volume ratios. They show minimal bundling without the need for surfactants and have the lowest number of defects among reported CNTs. Furthermore, the dry-transferrable and facile one-step lamination results in promising industrial viability. When applied to devices, the sensor shows excellent sensitivity (41.6% at 500 ppb), rapid response/recovery time (14.2/120.8 s), a remarkably low limit of detection (below ≈0.161 ppb), minimal noise, repeatability for more than 50 cycles without fluctuation, and long-term stability for longer than 6 months. This is the best performance reported for a pure CNT-based sensor. In addition, the aerosol SWCNTs demonstrate consistent gas-sensing performance even after 5000 bending cycles, indicating their suitability for wearable applications. Based on experimental and theoretical analyses, the proposed aerosol CNTs are expected to overcome the limitations associated with conventional CNT-based sensors, thereby offering a promising avenue for various sensor applications.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2313830
Number of pages13
JournalAdvanced Materials
Volume36
Issue number24
Early online date2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Jun 2024
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • aerosol carbon nanotubes
  • FCCVD
  • NO gas detector
  • NO gas sensors
  • single-walled carbon nanotubes
  • wearable sensors

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