The VOCs sensitivity of nano-rod polyaniline sensor by interfacial polymerization method

To obtain high sensitivity and rapid response time, we fabricated nano-structured polyaniline (PANi) by interfacial polymerization (IP). An aqueous solution of aniline in chloroform and another solution of ammonium peroxydisulfate in doping acid were employed for IP synthesis of nano-structured PANi. The reaction to proceed at different time (30 min, 1 h and 2 h) terminated with methanol at room temperature. The products were then collected and purified by filtration. The samples for 30 min interfacial reaction had nearly uniform diameters between 30 nm and 50 nm with the length varying from 500 nm to several micrometer. Throughout the experimental trails, nano-structured polyanilines have much better sensing performance than bulk type and were found to have superior sensitivity and selectivity for several volatile organic compounds (VOCs). As the reaction time increased from 30 min to 2 h, the sensitivities of VOCs were decreased. The fastest response and recovery time was appeared when the reaction time was set to 30 min.