Room temperature operated flexible La-ZnO/MWCNTs sensor for ppb level carbon monoxide detection

Abstract The advancement of gas sensors with ppb level concentration experiences profound challenges. In this research, Lanthanum (La)-Zinc Oxide (ZnO)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) composites were successfully fabricated and loaded on a flexible polyimide substrate where interdigitated electrodes (thickness: 300 µ m and spacing: 300 µ m) were prepared using a laser carbonation technique for room temperature (RT) carbon monoxide (CO) gas detection. The synthesized composites were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, UV – visible spectrophotometry, x-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. When compared to the La-ZnO composite, the addition of MWCNTs on the synthesized composite-based sensor exhibited ∼8 times higher response than La-ZnO to 100 ppm CO at 27 °C. The response of the La-ZnO/MWCNTs composite sensors to 20 ppm CO was tested at six different relative humidity (RH) levels ranging from 0% to 90% in the increments of 20% RH. These sensors exhibited humidity tolerant properties, as evidenced by their responses to different humidity levels. Even when exposed to 90% RH, the sensor only showed ∼13% reduction in response compared to 0% RH, indicating that it is a humidity tolerant sensor. Furthermore, the La-ZnO/MWCNTs sensor has excellent selectivity and can detect low CO concentrations of 100 ppb. As a result, the proposed high-performance flexible sensor has a lot of potential for use in wearable devices to sense CO gas at RT for trace level detection.