A Room Temperature Methanol Vapour Sensor Based on Polyaniline Nanoparticles

Through chemical oxidative method polyaniline (PANI) nanoparticles were prepared with various molar concentrations (0.2, 0.25 and 0.3 M) of PANI to study their methanol sensing performance. X-ray diffraction pattern and Fourier transform infrared spectra confirmed the formation of polyaniline nanoparticles. Field emission scanning electron micrographs showed that the particles were aggregated with distributed pores. Polyaniline nanoparticles exhibited high response with fast response and recovery time towards methanol vapour at room temperature. The response towards 100 ppm of methanol was 255, 1169 and 86 for 0.2, 0.25 and 0.3 M concentrations of PANI respectively. The response and recovery time of polyaniline prepared at 0.25 M concentration were found to be 16 and 11 s respectively for 50 ppm of methanol.