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Sensing and Discrimination of Vapors by an Array of Conducting Carbon Black‐Polymer Composites
Author(s) -
Vaid Thomas,
Severin Erik,
Doleman Brett,
Lewis Nathan S.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
sid symposium digest of technical papers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.351
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 2168-0159
pISSN - 0097-966X
DOI - 10.1889/1.1834146
Subject(s) - polymer , carbon black , materials science , composite material , metal , carbon fibers , swelling , chemical engineering , natural rubber , composite number , engineering , metallurgy
We describe herein the construction of a simple, low‐power, broadly responsive vapor sensor. Carbon black‐organic polymer composites have been shown to swell reversibly upon exposure to vapors. Thin films of carbon black‐organic polymer composites have been deposited across two metallic leads, with swelling‐induced resistance changes of the films signaling the presence of vapors. To identify and classify vapors, arrays of such vapor‐sensing elements have been constructed, with each element containing a different organic polymer as the insulating phase. The differing gas‐solid partition coefficients for the various polymers of the sensor array produce a pattern of resistance changes that can be used to classify vapors and vapor mixtures. This type of sensor array has been shown to resolve all organic vapors that have been analyzed, and can even resolve H 2 O from D 2 O.