This paper presents the integration of a sensing layer over interdigitated electrodes and an electronic circuit on the same flexible printed circuit board. This integration provides an effective technique to use this design as a wearable gas measuring system in a target application, exhibiting high performance, low power consumption, and being lightweight for on-site monitoring. The wearable system proves the concept of using an NFC tag combined with a chemoresistive gas sensor as a cumulative gas sensor, having the possibility of holding the data for a working day, and completely capturing the exposure of a person to NO2 concentrations. Three different types of sensors were tested, depositing the sensing layers on gold electrodes over Kapton substrate: bare graphene, graphene decorated with 5 wt.% zinc oxide nanoflowers, or nanopillars. The deposited layers were characterized using FESEM, EDX, XRD, and Raman spectroscopy to determine their crystalline structure, morphological and chemical compositions. The gas sensing performance of the sensors was analyzed against NO2 (dry and humid conditions) and other interfering species (dry conditions) to check their sensitivity and selectivity. The resultant-built wearable NFC tag system accumulates the data in a non-volatile memory every minute and has an average low power consumption of 24.9 µW in dynamic operation. Also, it can be easily attached to a work vest.
Manganese dioxide (MnO2) has drawn attention as a sensitiser to be incorporated in graphene-based chemoresistive sensors thanks to its promising properties. In this regard, a rGO@MnO2 sensing material was prepared and deposited on two different substrates (silicon and Kapton). The effect of the substrate nature on the morphology and sensing behaviour of the rGO@MnO2 material was thoroughly analysed and reported. These sensors were exposed to different dilutions of NO2 ranging from 200 ppb to 1000 ppb under dry and humid conditions (25% RH and 70% RH) at room temperature. rGO@MnO2 deposited on Kapton showed the highest response of 6.6% towards 1 ppm of NO2 under dry conditions at RT. Other gases or vapours such as NH3, CO, ethanol, H2 and benzene were also tested. FESEM, HRTEM, Raman, XRD and ATR-IR were used to characterise the prepared sensors. The experimental results showed that the incorporation of nanosized MnO2 in the rGO material enhanced its response towards NO2. Moreover, this material also showed very good responses toward NH3 both under dry and humid conditions, with the rGO@MnO2 sensor on silicon showing the highest response of 18.5% towards 50 ppm of NH3 under 50% RH at RT. Finally, the synthetised layers showed no cross-responsiveness towards other toxic gases.
This paper presents the fabrication of sensors based on tungsten trioxide nanowires decorated with osmium oxide nanoparticles using the aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) technique.
16 October 2024 in IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement
This work presents the design and setup of an IoT platform at level four of the technology readiness level (TRL-4), to detect, classify, and quantify pollutant gases. This study combines concepts such as wireless sensor networks, arrays of sensors, and multivariate data analysis to interface different nano-structured chemoresistor gas sensors. The IoT platform consists of several gas sensor nodes with Wi-Fi capability to send data from a sensor array to a server and its user interface. Each gas sensor node interfaces one sensor array (up to four chemoresistor gas sensors and one temperature and humidity sensor). The server channels the data from the gas sensor nodes to the user interface. The platform was set up following a two-stage methodology. First (training stage), sensor data was received, stored, and used to train different multilayer perceptron (MLP) artificial neural networks (ANNs). Second (recognition stage), models were implemented in the user interface to classify and quantify the presence of pollutants. The platform was tested in laboratory conditions under exposure to nitrogen dioxide and ammonia at different % RH. As a result, the platform improves the classification and quantification times compared with the single-sensor approach. Additionally, the system was evaluated using a gas mixture of both gases, showing a classification accuracy exceeding 99 %. Likewise, the training and recognition stages can be repeated to add new chemoresistor gas sensors in the node, add new nodes to the platform, and deploy the nodes in different scenarios.
Manganese dioxide (MnO2) has drawn attention as a sensitizer to be incorporated in graphene-based chemoresistive sensors thanks to its promising properties. In this regard, a rGO@MnO2 sensing material was prepared and deposited on two different substrates (Silicon and Kapton). These sensors were exposed to different dilutions of NO2 under dry and humid conditions at room temperature. Other gases or vapours such as NH3, CO, ethanol and H2 were also tested. FESEM, HRTEM, RAMAN and XRD were used to characterize the prepared sensors. The experimental results showed that the incorporation of MnO2 in the rGO material enhanced its response towards NO2. Moreover, this material showed also very good responses toward NH3 both under dry and humid conditions and showed no cross-responsiveness towards other toxic gases.
In recent years, two-dimensional (2D) materials have attracted growing attention for their application in chemoresistive gas sensors. Among these materials, graphene stands out due to its exceptional electrical, mechanical, and chemical properties. A simple and low-cost method for producing graphene involves the use of a laser to induce its formation on carbon-rich substrates, such as polyimides. This technique, first introduced in 2014, has been successfully applied in the fabrication of various types of sensors, including pressure sensors, temperature sensors, biosensors, and gas sensors. For chemoresistive gas sensors, laser-induced graphene (LIG) has been used either as an electrode or as part of the nanocomposite forming the active sensing layer. Moreover, this technology has allowed the use of heating elements. Sensing performance, including sensitivity and selectivity, can be tailored by incorporating different materials into the nanocomposite, such as metallic nanoparticles, metal oxides, or conductive polymers. These modifications can be implemented using low-cost and scalable fabrication methods, making this approach highly suitable for the development of affordable and efficient gas sensors. In this contribution, we present a comprehensive overview of the contributions, reported from the proposal of LIG technology in 2014 to 2025, about the use of this fabrication process in the development of chemoresistive gas sensors.