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.
Highlights
The gas sensors have found a new potential in medical applications such as detection of various volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can be considered as biomarkers related to different diseases—especially pulmonary ones [1,2]
If we consider limit of detection (LOD) and response time/recovery times as the major parameters for detection of biomarkers related to different diseases, we can conclude that single crystal PPy nanotubes showed the most advanced sensing properties for the detection of ammonia, with LOD (0.00005 ppm) and response/recovery times of less than 16 s/16 s [114]
We have described the synthesis of PPy-based ammonia and VOC sensors in detail and compared their sensing effectivity with other conducting polymers (CPs), primarily with PANI, as well as with other well-known gas sensing materials such as metal oxides
Summary
The gas sensors have found a new potential in medical applications such as detection of various volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can be considered as biomarkers related to different diseases—especially pulmonary ones [1,2] Their biggest advantage comes from the non-invasiveness of patient screening via VOC breath-prints produced mainly through changes in specific biochemical pathways in the body [3]. For instance nanoscaled CPs are more conductive and sensitive compared with bulk materials owing to their higher surface area and conductive pathways, what is reflected in a rapid adsorption and absorption/desorption kinetics for analytes [41,42,43] Due to this high electrical conductivity and fast electron transport, CPs have received great attention in the field of electrochemical high power energy storage devices such as supercapacitors [44].
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