Comparison of Gas Sensors Based on Oxygen Plasma-Treated Carbon Nanotube Network Films with Different Semiconducting Contents

We report on the effect of oxygen plasma treatment on the performance of single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) NH3 gas sensors with different semiconducting contents (66% and 90% semiconducting SWCNTs). The performance of chemical sensors based on SWCNT networks depends on the concentration of semiconducting SWCNTs (s-SWCNTs), whose conductance can be significantly modulated by the absorbed molecules and the surface functionalization. After oxygen plasma treatment, the 66% s-SWCNT sample showed an increase in sensitivity from 0.0275%/ppm to 0.1525%/ppm (5.5 times), while the 90% s-SWCNT device demonstrated an increase in sensitivity from 0.1184%/ppm to 1.5707%/ppm (13 times). These results correspond to improvements in sensitivity of 57 times and 10 times compared with pristine and plasma-treated 66% s-SWCNT samples, respectively. In addition, the plasma-treated sensors exhibited much faster response and recovery times than the pristine one. The large improvement in performance was explained by the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups and the sp(2)-sp(3) structure change of SWCNTs, which changes the binding energy while increasing the uptake of polar molecules such as NH3.