Irradiated Carbon and Electroconductive Polymer Nanostructured Electrodes for Promising Detection of Toxic Pollutants
Iva Dimitrievska, Anita Grozdanov, Perica Paunovic
Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University “Ss Cyril and Methodius”, 1000 Skopje, Rugjer Boshkovikj 16, North Macedonia
Abstract:
Atmospheric pollution has become a global phenomenon, reaching concerning levels. Ammonia as one of the most abundant toxic pollutants has a negative impact on every living being. Trace levels of ammonia can cause serious irritation to sensitive organs such as eyes, skin, and whole respiratory system. Serving as a serious threat for human health and environment, is an imperative to find an efficient strategy for rapid detection and monitoring of gas pollutants. Due to their tunable physicochemical properties, nanomaterials are promising components for sensors development, possessing good gas sensing capabilities.
In this work, ammonia (NH3) sensing performance testing was conducted on sensors based on three different types of irradiated screen-printed electrodes - carbon nanostructures (multi-walled carbon nanotubes - MWCNT and graphene – G) and electroconductive polymer (polyaniline - PANI). The irradiation was applied with 60Co gamma rays at different doses (0, 50 and 100kGy). The testing was performed against NH3 vapors with different concentration (3 and 25%). The electrochemical characterization included resistance change monitoring of the non-irradiated and irradiated electrodes which confirmed conductivity increase for irradiated structures. Best sensing response showed MWCNT electrode irradiated with 100kGy with electrical resistance of around 21M. The electrochemical characterization was followed by physical characterization with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to confirm the irradiation effect on the structure.
Keywords: ammonia, sensor, pollution, screen-printed electrodes, irradiation
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