Abstract
Conducting polymers are often used as sensor electrodes due to their conjugated chain structure, which leads to high sensitivity and rapid response at room temperature. Numerous studies have been conducted on the structures of conducting polymer nanomaterials to increase the active surface area for the target materials. However, studies on the control of the chemical state of conducting polymer chains and the modification of the sensing signal transfer with these changes have not been reported. In this work, polypyrrole nanoparticles (PPyNPs), where is PPy is a conducting polymer, are applied as a sensor transducer to analyze the chemical sensing ability of the electrode. In particular, the protonation of PPy is adjusted by chemical methods to modify the transfer sensing signals with changes in the polymer chain structure. The PPyNPs that were modified at pH 1 exhibit high sensitivity to the target analyte (down to 1 ppb of NH3) with short response and recovery times of less than 20 s and 50 s, respectively, at 25 °C.
Highlights
In the past few decades, chemical gas sensors have been widely used in several applications, including the detection of combustible, flammable, and toxic gases [1,2,3,4,5]
The pyrrole monomer was introduced into the aqueous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/Fe3+ complex solution with vigorous stirring to allow for the formation of polypyrrole nanoparticles (PPyNPs) at the reactive sites, where the pyrrole monomer contacted the PVA/Fe3+ complex
The expanded state of the polymer chain is formed upon protonation, while the contracted state is formed upon deprotonation
Summary
In the past few decades, chemical gas sensors have been widely used in several applications, including the detection of combustible, flammable, and toxic gases [1,2,3,4,5]. Various semiconductive materials are used as transducers for chemical sensors, and extensive investigations have been conducted to improve their performance [6,7,8,9]. The critical indicators for sensor performance include high sensitivity to the target analyte, short response and recovery times, and cycle stability [10,11]. Conducting polymers, which are semiconductive materials, have been investigated for sensor applications, owing to their versatility originating from the conjugated backbone structure consisting of alternating single and double bonds [12,13]. Considerable efforts have been directed toward the fabrication of nanometer-scale conducting polymers, owing to their beneficial characteristics, such as small size, high surface-to-volume ratio, and amplified signals, to enhance the sensitivity [17,18,19,20]. Several studies have focused on increasing the surface area of conducting polymer nanomaterials
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