Room temperature detection of ethanol vapour by radiation crosslinked PVB/CNT nanocomposites

This study reports studies of radiation crosslinked polyvinyl butyral (PVB) and CNT based melt processed conducting polymeric nanocomposites (CPCs) based chemiresistive sensors for room temperature detection of ethanol vapours. Electrical conductivity and rheological studies were conducted in order to fully characterize the as prepared nanocomposites in terms of electronic conducting mechanism in nanocomposites. Rheological study gives an insight to CNT-CNT network formation and wrapping of CNTs with polymer molecules which give much enhanced chemiresistivity towards ethanol vapours. Crosslinking of nanocomposites was found to improve sensing characteristics. (author)