Facile fabrication of high-performance QCM humidity sensor based on layer-by-layer self-assembled polyaniline/graphene oxide nanocomposite film

• Published in: Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical Chemical, 2018-02, Vol.255, p.1869-1877
• Main Authors: Zhang, Dongzhi, Wang, Dongyue, Li, Peng, Zhou, Xiaoyan, Zong, Xiaoqi, Dong, Guokang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Detection; Graphene; Humidity; humidity sensor; Layer-by-layer self-assembly; Microbalances; Nanocomposite film; Nanocomposites; Polyanilines; Quartz; Quartz crystal microbalance; Self-assembly; Sensors; Studies
• ISSN: 0925-4005; 1873-3077
• DOI: 10.1016/j.snb.2017.08.212

•Polyaniline (PANI)/graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposite–based QCM humidity sensor was fabricated.•QCM sensing properties of PANI/GO nanocomposite toward humidity were investigated.•The sensing mechanism and Langmuir adsorption model of PANI/GO film was discussed. This paper demonstrates a layer-by-layer self-assembled polyaniline (PANI)/graphene oxide (GO) film on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) for humidity sensing. The morphological and compositional properties of PANI/GO composite films were examined by means of SEM, XRD and FT-IR. The humidity sensing properties of the PANI/GO nanocomposite-based QCM sensor were investigated by exposing to a broad range of 0–97%RH. The experimental results showed that the presented PANI/GO nanocomposite sensor has a high sensitivity, a good repeatability and fast response/recovery characteristics, which surpasses the previous reported counterparts. Moreover, the underlying humidity sensing mechanism of the PANI/GO-based QCM sensor was discussed by using Langmuir adsorption model. This work highlights the unique advantage of layer-by-layer self-assembled route for QCM sensor fabrication.