Lightweight and flexible gas sensors are essentially required for the fast detection of toxic gases to pass on the early warning to deter accident situations caused by gas leakage. In view of this, we have fabricated a thin paper-like free-standing, flexible, and sensitive carbon nanotube (CNT) aerogel gas sensor. The CNT aerogel film synthesized by the floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition method consists of a tiny network of long CNTs and ∼20% amorphous carbon. The pores and defect density of the CNT aerogel film were tuned by heating at 700 °C to obtain a sensor film, which showed excellent sensitivity for toxic NO2 and methanol gas in the concentration range of 1-100 ppm with a remarkable limit of detection ∼90 ppb. This sensor has consistently responded to toxic gas even after bending and crumpling the film. Moreover, the film heat-treated at 900 °C showed a lower response with opposite sensing characteristics due to switching of the semiconductor nature of the CNT aerogel film to n-type from p-type. The annealing temperature-based adsorption switching can be related to a type of carbon defect in the CNT aerogel film. Therefore, the developed free-standing, highly sensitive, and flexible CNT aerogel sensor paves the way for a reliable, robust, and switchable toxic gas sensor.
© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.