Flexible Transparent Films Based on Nanocomposite Networks of Polyaniline and Carbon Nanotubes for High-Performance Gas Sensing

A flexible, transparent, chemical gas sensor is assembled from a transparent conducting film of carbon nanotube (CNT) networks that are coated with hierarchically nanostructured polyaniline (PANI) nanorods. The nanocomposite film is synthesized by in-situ, chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline in a functional multiwalled CNT (FMWCNT) suspension and is simultaneously deposited onto a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. An as-prepared flexible transparent chemical gas sensor exhibits excellent transparency of 85.0% at 550 nm using the PANI/FMWCNT nanocomposite film prepared over a reaction time of 8 h. The sensor also shows good flexibility, without any obvious decrease in performance after 500 bending/extending cycles, demonstrating high-performance, portable gas sensing at room temperature. This superior performance could be attributed to the improved electron transport and collection due to the CNTs, resulting in reliable and efficient sensing, as well as the high surface-to-volume ratio of the hierarchically nanostructured composites. The excellent transparency, improved sensing performance, and superior flexibility of the device, may enable the integration of this simple, low-cost, gas sensor into handheld flexible transparent electronic circuitry and optoelectronic devices.