Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube-Based Chemi-Capacitive Sensor for Hexane and Ammonia

Abstract

Two configurations of single-walled carbon nanotube-based chemi-capacitive gas sensors were fabricated, i.e., horizontal and vertical. Further, their sensing properties for hexane and ammonia (NH3) vapor were characterized and compared with chemi-resistive-type sensing properties. Upon exposure to hexane and NH3 vapor, both capacitance and resistance varied as the analyte concentration increased. The sensing sensitivity measured along the horizontal direction increased with the device resistance. However, the capacitive sensing response along the vertical direction was independent of the number and fraction of semi-conductive single-walled carbon nanotubes. Furthermore, the vertical chemi-capacitive sensing response was dependent on the dipole moment of analytes.