Development of Electrospun Polyaniline/ZnO Composite Nanofibers for LPG Sensing

In this paper we report the highly sensitive at low temperature and low concentration of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sensor based on D-Camphor-10-Sulphonic acid (CSA) doped Polyaniline/Polyethylene Oxide (PANI/PEO) and PANI/ZnO/PEO nanofibers fabricated by electrospinning technique. Nano-sized particles of zinc oxide (ZnO) were synthesized using sol-gel method. The emeraldine base form of polyaniline (PANI) and PANI/ZnO synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization were treated with CSA for better solubility and conductivity and then blended with PEO solution to get nanofibers using electrospinning. The morphology and structure of electrospun nanofibers of CSA doped PANI/PEO and PANI/ZnO/PEO were investigated by SEM, UV-VIS, FTIR and XRD. The change in electrical resistance of CSA doped PANI/PEO and PANI/ZnO/PEO for 1000 ppm of LPG was measured. Both the samples showed a rapid and reversible resistance change upon exposure to LPG gas at 1000 ppm concentration. Maximum sensitivity was achieved at 36 °C for PANI/ZnO/PEO indicating suitability of nanofibrous PANI/ZnO/PEO towards LPG sensing as compared to pure ZnO and PANI.