Smart composites materials: A new idea to add gas-sensing properties to commercial carbon-fibers by functionalization with ZnO nanowires

•Commercial carbon-fibers (CFs) have been functionalized with zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO-NWs).•Chemoresistive signal at the crossing point of functionalized CFs is demonstrated.•The proposed basic device may be exploited to create sensors array in CF textures.•The small volume of nanostructures is hi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors and actuators. B, Chemical Chemical, 2017-06, Vol.245, p.166-170
Main Authors: Calestani, Davide, Villani, Marco, Culiolo, Maurizio, Delmonte, Davide, Coppedè, Nicola, Zappettini, Andrea
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon fiber reinforced plastics
Carbon fibers
Chemoresistive gas sensor
Composite materials
Conductivity
Electrical resistivity
Gas sensors
Mechanical properties
Nano-composite
Nanocomposites
Nanostructure
Nanostructured materials
Nanowires
Organic chemistry
Piezoelectricity
Properties (attributes)
Sensor arrays
Smart materials
Zinc oxide
ZnO nanostructures
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Summary:•Commercial carbon-fibers (CFs) have been functionalized with zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO-NWs).•Chemoresistive signal at the crossing point of functionalized CFs is demonstrated.•The proposed basic device may be exploited to create sensors array in CF textures.•The small volume of nanostructures is highly desirable to prevent delamination issues. Commercial carbon fibers have been coated by a brush-like layer of ZnO nanowires using a seeded chemical bath deposition. Both single carbon fibers or large tows can be functionalized in such a way. Exploiting the electrical conductivity of carbon fibers and the functional properties of ZnO nanostructures, we demonstrated that the intersection at the crossing of two functionalized carbon fibers can act not only as a piezoelectric strain sensor, but also as a chemoresistive gas sensor. The small volume of added nanostructures prevents delamination issues. The “crossing” configuration, which is typical of carbon fiber fabrics used for composites, paves the way to transform a typical texture with simple mechanical and structural properties into a “smart” material with noninvasive integrated arrays of micron-scale sensors.
ISSN:0925-4005
1873-3077
DOI:10.1016/j.snb.2017.01.109