Compositional engineering of VOPcPhO-TiO2nano-composite to reduce the absolute threshold value of humidity sensors

Azmer MI 1 , Aziz F 2 , Ahmad Z 3 , Raza E 4 , Najeeb MA 5 , Fatima N 6 Show all authors , Bawazeer TM 7 , Alsoufi MS 8 , Shakoor RA 5 , Sulaiman K 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 Low Dimensional Materials Research Centre, Department of Physics, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2 Low Dimensional Materials Research Centre, Department of Physics, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Department of Electronics, Jinnah College for Women, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan
  • 3 Center for Advanced Materials (CAM), Qatar University, 2713 Doha, Qatar. Electronic address: zubairtarar@qu.edu.qa
  • 4 Department of Electronics, Faculty of Physical and Numerical Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan
  • 5 Center for Advanced Materials (CAM), Qatar University, 2713 Doha, Qatar
  • 6 Department of Electrical Engineering, Capital University of Science and Technology (CUST), Islamabad, Pakistan
  • 7 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Science, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
  • 8 Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering and Islamic Architecture, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
Talanta, 2017 Nov 01;174:279-284.
PMID: 28738579 DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2017.06.016

Abstract

This research work demonstrates compositional engineering of an organic-inorganic hybrid nano-composites for modifying absolute threshold of humidity sensors. Vanadyl-2,9,16,23-tetraphenoxy-29H,31H-phthalocyanine (VOPcPhO), an organic semiconductor, doped with Titanium-dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) has been employed to fabricate humidity sensors. The morphology of the VOPcPhO:TiO2nano-composite films has been analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The sensors have been examined over a wide range of relative humidity i.e. 20-99% RH. The sensor with TiO2(90nm) shows reduced sensitivity-threshold and improved linearity. The VOPcPhO:TiO2(90nm) nano-composite film is comprised of uniformly distributed voids which makes the surface more favorable for adsorption of moisture content from environment. The VOPcPhO:TiO2nano-composite based sensor demonstrates remarkable improvement in the sensing parameter when equated with VOPcPhO sensors.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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