Room Temperature Measurements of Aromatic Hydrocarbons by QCM-based Gas Sensors: Intercomparison between Phthalocyanines and Phthalocyanine/CNTs Hybrid Material

This paper deals with metallo-phthalocyanines and functionalized nanocarbons as sensitive materials for microsensors development dedicated to BTX monitoring at room temperature. Because of the nature of gas/materials interactions involved, QCM has been chosen as transducer. Sensors were tested in different concentration ranges. Out of different phthalocyanines materials studied, tert-butyl substituted metallo-phthalocyanines showed highest sensitivity. Aiming to further improve the sensitivity, ttb-CuPc/CNT hybrid nanomaterials were synthesized. The sensitivity measured for this hybrid nanomaterial was found to be greater as compared to individual sensitivity of ttb-CuPc and CNT.