Different sensing mechanisms in single wire and mat carbon nanotubes chemical sensors

TL;DR

This study compares the sensing mechanisms of single wire and mat carbon nanotube sensors, revealing different behaviors and suggesting a complex junction-based sensing process in CNT networks.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of sensing properties in single wire and mat CNT sensors, highlighting the role of junctions in the sensing mechanism.

Findings

Single wire CNT sensors show diverse responses to vapors.

Mat CNT sensors exhibit similar responses to all vapors.

Sensing mechanism involves localized phenomena at CNT-CNT junctions.

Abstract

Chemical sensing properties of single wire and mat form sensor structures fabricated from the same carbon nanotube (CNT) materials have been compared. Sensing properties of CNT sensors were evaluated upon electrical response in the presence of five vapours as acetone, acetic acid, ethanol, toluene, and water. Diverse behaviour of single wire CNT sensors was found, while the mat structures showed similar response for all the applied vapours. This indicates that the sensing mechanism of random CNT networks cannot be interpreted as a simple summation of the constituting individual CNT effects, but is associated to another robust phenomenon, localized presumably at CNT-CNT junctions, must be supposed.