Fabrication of Chitosan-Polyethylene Oxide Polymeric Thin Film Using Electrochemical Deposition for Detection of Volatile Organic Compounds

This study focused on the fabrication of chitosan-polyethylene oxide sensitive thin film. The polyethylene oxide was used as an additive to enhance the electrical properties of chitosan towards ethanol and methanol gases. The chitosan-polyethylene oxide sensitive film was fabricated using electrochemical deposition technique to deposit a thin film of the sensitive blend on the printed circuit board surface. The sensitive blend electrical (I-V) properties were tested using a specific developed test chamber. Ethanol and methanol volatile organic compound gases were chosen in this work to study the thin sensing properties of the chitosan-polyethylene oxide film. The analyzed data demonstrated that chitosan-polyethylene oxide sensitive film was capable to detect the VOC gas molecules and showed that the sensitive blend was significantly selective to ethanol over methanol gas with output values of 0.31 µA and 0.023 µA respectively. Atomic force microscopy test was used to characterize the morphology and roughness of the pure chitosan and chitosan-polyethylene oxide sensitive films.