Fabrication of low temperature and fast response H2S gas sensor based on organic-metal oxide hybrid nanocomposite membrane

Organic-metal oxide semiconductor based sensors have attracted great attention in recent years due to their high sensing performance. This work reports on a novel selective, fast response, and low-temperature H2S gas sensor based on Tungsten Oxide nanoparticles (WO3 NPs) embedded in a conductivity controlled organic (chitosan) membrane. The conductivity of the organic membrane is controlled by blending it with an ionic liquid (IL) (glycerol) and different concentrations of the WO3 nanoparticles which were synthesized using a sol-gel method. Homogenous solutions made thereafter were cast into the sensing membranes. These membranes were tested against H2S gas at different temperatures and H2S gas concentrations, as a function of time. The fabricated sensor showed a fast response (13.6 +/- 1.7 s) and good sensitivity (15 ppm) towards H2S gas at a low temperature of 40 degrees C. Moreover, the sensor is selective and showed a very good reversible behavior and less humidity dependence at 40 degrees C. Furthermore, this type of organic-inorganic hybrid nanocomposites based sensor is flexible, environmentally friendly, energy-efficient and inexpensive to manufacture, which are very important characteristics required for the next-generation organic electronics.