Highly Ammonia Sensing Using Direct In Situ Electro-Deposited Polypyrrole-Dodecylbenzene Sulfonic Acid Film on ITO Coated Flexible Substrates

Air quality monitoring is of major concern as it is directly linked to public health. It requires the development of high sensitive devices with fast response towards hazardous gas and volatile compounds. Such performances depend on the nature and quality of deposition of the sensing layer. Herein, adherent polypyrrole-dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (PPy–DBSA) films were deposited on a N-(3-trimethoxysilylpropyl) pyrrole modified ITO coated polyethylene teraphtalate (PET) flexible substrate by facile direct electrochemical oxidation of pyrrole in an aqueous solution of sulfonic acid. The obtained PPy-DBSA films were subjected to various characterization techniques such as, FTIR, Raman, SEM and conductivity measurements. Chemiresistive gas sensing tests have demonstrated selectivity and sensitivity of films toward ammonia vapors over the other vapors (nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, acetone, methanol and ethanol) with higher response at 20 ppm, reasonably fast response time of 3 min and reaching detection limit of 3ppm. The response of the sensor can reasonably be related to the strong electrostatic interactions between vapor molecules and the dopant agents within PPy films. In comparison PPy-DBSA films prepared on pristine ITO/PET has exhibited lower response at 20 ppm of ammonia exposure, which highlights the role of surface modification and the contribution from the dopant agent nature for ammonia sensing. Moreover, chemiresistive response performances have been tested in the presence of humidity, under varied temperatures, and finally their behaviors were featured by an impedance spectroscopy in both presence and absence of gas. This work conclusively shows that the sensing performances are not only driven by the molecular interactions between the sensor and the analyte but also by the quality of deposition and adhesion of the former to the transducer. The latter feature can be controlled by appropriate chemical surface modification.

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