Trace-level ammonia detection at room temperature based on porous flexible polyaniline/polyvinylidene fluoride sensing film with carbon nanotube additives

Abstract Enhanced ammonia (NH3) sensing properties based on porous flexible polyaniline/polyvinylidene fluoride (PANI/PVDF) composite films, which used multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as additives, were prepared by an in-situ polymerization process. The obtained flexible PANI/PVDF based sensing films showed a hierarchical porous structure, which enhanced their NH3 sensing performance. The results show that the addition of MWCNTs to the PANI/PVDF film further improved its stability and response to NH3. The response of the optimized MWCNT-PANI/PVDF film was found to increase by twofold to 33 %, and its recovery time was decreased 7-fold to 26 s than those of the PANI/PVDF sensing film for 1 ppm NH3 at 25 ℃. Its lower detectable NH3 concentration was 0.1 ppm, with a response value of 8 % at 25 ℃. Additionally, the MWCNT-PANI/PVDF film sensor presented good flexibility, showing only minor response value decline after 500 bending cycles. This work shows that the fabricated flexible MWCNT-PANI/PVDF film is promising for detecting trace-level NH3 gas at room temperature, and can be integrated with smart wearable devices for real-time environmental monitoring.