Flexible, All-Organic Chemiresistor for Detecting Chemically Aggressive Vapors

Chemiresistors made of thin films of single-walled carbon nanotube (CNT) bundles on cellulosics (paper and cloth) can detect aggressive oxidizing vapors such as nitrogen dioxide and chlorine at 250 and 500 ppb, respectively, at room temperature in ambient air without the aid of a vapor concentrator. Inkjet-printed films of CNTs on 100% acid-free paper are significantly more robust than dip-coated films on plastic substrates. Performance attributes include low sensor-to-sensor variation, spontaneous signal recovery, negligible baseline drift, and the ability to bend the sensors to a crease without loss of sensor performance.