Title: Below ppm ammonia gas detection using and innovative polyaniline based conductometric sensor

Biography:

Iulia Antohe received a Master degree in Materials Science in 2011 from University of Bucharest, Romania and a PhD award in Bioscience Engineering in 2016 from University of Leuven, Belgium. Since 2018 she is a Scientific Researcher 3rd degree within the National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics (INFLPR), Romania. She acquired knowledge in the field of physics and technology of nanostructured materials, thin film bio-/functionalization, as well as abilities in handling various thin film deposition methods and different structural, morphological, optical and electrical characterization techniques of nanomaterials. Her research interests include bio-nanotechnology, plasmonic biosensing and bioassay development.

Abstract

The demand of ammonia sensing systems is increasing because of its high toxicity even in small concentrations. Moreover, ammonia sensors have a wide range of applications in agricultural, industrial, and biological applications such as in the production of fertilizers, explosives, textiles, plastics and food processing. Therefore, the development of reversible and highly sensitive ammonia sensor is highly required. In this work, a conductometric ammonia gas sensor has been designed and fabricated using polyaniline (PANI) as sensing element. The sensor is fabricated by coating an alumina substrate with a platinum film using a magnetron sputtering technique and an in-house fabricated shadow mask, while the conductive polyaniline layer was synthetized using a relatively novel electroless polymerization method. Structural and morphological characterizations of PANI layer were carried out using X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), respectively. The detection of ammonia gas has been carried out at room temperature and using an in-house built setup for testing electrical gas sensors. The proposed sensor is highly sensitive for concentrations of ammonia gas below 1ppm and has small response as well as recovery time.