Room Temperature Chemiresistive Ethanol Detection by Ternary Nanocomposites of Oxidized Single Wall Carbon Nanohorn (ox-SWCNH)

This paper presents the fabrication and functional characterization of a novel chemiresistive sensor for room temperature ethanol vapors detection by means of sensing films consisting of oxidized single wall carbon nanohorn (ox-SWCNH) / tin dioxide (SnO
₂
) / polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in the mass ratio equal to 1/1/1 and 2/1/1. These sensors with ox-SWCNH concentration higher than 33 wt%, which is much above percolation threshold in the composite (below 0.1 wt%), has shown unexpected high sensitivities for ethanol vapor concentrations in air in the range of 0.2-25 below 2 mg/L, as well as in the range of 2-25 mg/L. These sensors may be attractive for low power Internet of Things (IoT).