Embedding 1D Conducting Channels into 3D Isoporous Polymer Films for High-Performance Humidity Sensing

Rahul Shevate; Md Azimul Haque; Faheem Hassan Akhtar; Luis Francisco Villalobos; Tom Wu; Klaus-Viktor Peinemann

doi:10.1002/anie.201804656

Embedding 1D Conducting Channels into 3D Isoporous Polymer Films for High-Performance Humidity Sensing

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 Aug 27;57(35):11218-11222. doi: 10.1002/anie.201804656. Epub 2018 Aug 1.

Authors

Rahul Shevate¹, Md Azimul Haque², Faheem Hassan Akhtar¹, Luis Francisco Villalobos¹, Tom Wu^{2

3}, Klaus-Viktor Peinemann¹

Affiliations

¹ Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center, King Abdullah Institute of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
² Materials Science and Engineering, King Abdullah Institute of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
³ Present address: School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia.

PMID: 29956876
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201804656

Abstract

Isoporous block copolymer (BCP) films have received exponential interest as highly selective membranes, stemming from their unique morphological features, but their applications in functional devices remain to be realized. Now single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were efficiently incorporated into isoporous block copolymer films for chemiresistive sensing at room temperature. Leveraging the efficient charge extraction ability of CNTs together with nanochannel arrays aligned perpendicular to the surface of the films, an ultrafast response time of 0.3 s was achieved for humidity detection with a sensor response of about 800 on changing humidity from 10 % to 95 %. Furthermore, the sensor also responds to various organic vapors, underscoring its promising detection capability.

Keywords: carbon nanoubes; chemiresistance; isoporous films; polymers; sensors.