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A surfactant dispersed N-doped carbon sphere-poly(vinyl alcohol) composite as relative humidity sensor

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Abstract

We report on the use of a composite of N-doped carbon spheres dispersed with hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide in poly(vinyl alcohol) as an active material for thin film relative humidity (RH) sensors prepared on interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) with gaps of 0.1 or 0.3 mm. The sensors respond to RH variations in the range 9–97 RH % presenting sensitivity (relative variation of conductance per RH variation) up to 1.7 × 103 (IDE with gap of 0.1 mm) and 8.7 × 102 (IDE with gap of 0.3 mm). The response times were 19 and 8 s, and the recovery times were 178 and 142 s, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank CNPq and CAPES (Brazil) and DST-NRF (South Africa) for research grants and fellowships and Rubens L. Camargo for chemicals. We also thank CME-UFPR for SEM images and multiuser confocal microscopy laboratory for optical micrographs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Caixa Postal 19044, Curitiba, 81531-990, Brazil

    Bruno B. Cunha, Márcia W. C. C. Greenshields & Ivo A. Hümmelgen

  2. Department of Applied Chemistry, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein Campus, P.O Box 17011, Doornfontein, 2028, South Africa

    Messai A. Mamo

  3. DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials, Molecular Sciences Institute, School of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag, Wits, 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Neil J. Coville

Authors
  1. Bruno B. Cunha
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  2. Márcia W. C. C. Greenshields
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  3. Messai A. Mamo
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  4. Neil J. Coville
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  5. Ivo A. Hümmelgen
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Correspondence to Ivo A. Hümmelgen.

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Cunha, B.B., Greenshields, M.W.C.C., Mamo, M.A. et al. A surfactant dispersed N-doped carbon sphere-poly(vinyl alcohol) composite as relative humidity sensor. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 26, 4198–4201 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-015-2966-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-015-2966-7

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