Polyaniline-Doped Poly (Methyl Methacrylate) Microfiber for Methanol Sensing

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of Polyaniline (PANI) as a dopant in the fabrication of a polymer microfiber for sensing methanol. A simple direct drawing technique was employed in the preparation of a Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) doped with PANI microfiber. The changes of the power spectrum were measured through an optical spectrum analyzer over a range of 100–500 ppm methanol solution concentrations. It was observed that the sensor utilizing a PANI-doped microfiber had a higher response toward the changes in the methanol solution concentrations compared with its undoped counterpart with an improvement of 41.01% and more than 5 times for the sensitivity and resolution, respectively. A sensitivity of 0.047 dBm/ppm was attained with the use of a PMMA microfiber with a taper diameter and length of $3~\mu \text{m}$ and 3 mm, respectively. The field emission scanning electron microscopy proved the successful doping of PANI into the PMMA microfiber, which contributed to the increase in the performance of the sensor.