Iron-Polyvinylpyrrolidone (Fe-PVP) nanocomposite coated Inductive Proximity Sensor

The research work reported in the article concerns the development and improvements in the detection capabilities of commercially available of an inductive based proximity sensor utilized in the detection of metallic objects in a noninvasive fashion. Improvements in the inductive proximity sensor sensitivity was sought by coating the commercial sensor pot core by depositing a thin layer of PVP coated Iron (Fe) nanoparticles on its surface, using a dip coating technique. The PVP/Fe composite thin film coated Inductive proximity sensor was optimized sensing distance with respect to size and surface. The Fe nanoparticles utilized in this study were synthesized by chemical reduction method. The obtained Fe nanoparticles were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), which showed their amorphous nature. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) was used to analyze the purity of Fe nanoparticles which is found to be 99%. In addition, a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) was used to analysis the Fe nanoparticles ferromagnetic properties and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was employed to determine the Fe nanoparticles functional group. Finally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to determine the surface morphology of the PVP coated nanoparticles thin films, which revealed their clustered shape and aggregated morphology. The detection efficiency of nano-Fe coated sensor was significantly improved compared to the uncoated commercial proximity sensor. Thus our finding suggest that, Fe-PVP composite thin films maybe used to enhance the operational performance of inductive base proximity sensors employed in an industrial setting.