Sensing of carbon monoxide with porous Al2O3 intercalated with Fe3O4 nanoparticles-doped liquid crystal

Abstract This paper reports a study of carbon monoxide sensing properties for a novel nanocomposite material obtained by intercalation of a mixture of liquid crystal with magnetite nanoparticles into a matrix of mesoporous alumina. The sensing principle is based on measurements of the shift in the selective light reflection peak of the proposed nanocomposite film due to interaction between CO molecules and magnetite nanoparticles dispersed in the liquid crystal. The influence of the alumina pores' size on the sensitivity of the structure to CO has been investigated. The highest sensitivity of the selective reflection peak to the CO concentration in air estimated as 0.85 nm/(mg/m 3 ) is observed for a nanocomposite film with 50 nm size pores in the region of CO concentrations less than 10 mg/m 3 .

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