Ternary nanocomposite comprising MnO2, GQDs, and PANI as a potential structure for humidity sensing applications

Mohamed Morsy; Islam Gomaa; Abd Elhamid M Abd Elhamid; Heba Shawkey; Mohamed Aly Saad Aly; Amir Elzwawy

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-48928-2

Ternary nanocomposite comprising MnO₂, GQDs, and PANI as a potential structure for humidity sensing applications

Sci Rep. 2023 Dec 8;13(1):21742. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-48928-2.

Authors

Mohamed Morsy^{1

2}, Islam Gomaa³, Abd Elhamid M Abd Elhamid⁴, Heba Shawkey⁵, Mohamed Aly Saad Aly⁶, Amir Elzwawy⁷

Affiliations

¹ Building Physics and Environment Institute, Housing and Building National Research Center (HBRC), Dokki, Giza, 12311, Egypt. 83morsy@gmail.com.
² Nanotechnology Research Centre (NTRC), The British University in Egypt (BUE), Suez Desert Road, El-Sherouk City, Cairo, 11837, Egypt. 83morsy@gmail.com.
³ Nanotechnology Research Centre (NTRC), The British University in Egypt (BUE), Suez Desert Road, El-Sherouk City, Cairo, 11837, Egypt.
⁴ Nanotechnology Lab., Electronics Research Institute, El Nozha, Cairo, 11843, Egypt.
⁵ Microelectronics department, Electronics Research Institute, El Nozha, Cairo, 11843, Egypt.
⁶ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech Shenzhen Institute (GTSI), Tianjin University, Shenzhen, 518052, Guangdong, China.
⁷ Ceramics Department, National Research Centre (NRC), 33 El-Bohouth St, Dokki, 12622, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

Humidity sensing has been offering a noticeable contribution in different industrial, medical, and agricultural activities. Here, graphene quantum dots doped with polyaniline (PANI) and MnO₂ were successfully prepared. The synthesized system is exposed to a set of structural, morphological, and optical investigations. The apparent crystallite size is less than 30 nm, reflecting the nanoscale of the structure, and thus validating the preparation route as evident on XRD pattern. SEM images show a fibrous structure where polyaniline dominates and covers most of the structure's surface. The evident bands of the FTIR spectrum are designated to the component used in synthesis confirming the chemical structure of the fabricated system. The humidity sensing study of the synthesized structure is carried out through a wide range of relative humidity (RH) levels range of 11-97%. The response and recovery times of the fabricated structure are found to be around 120 and 220s, respectively.