An Efficient and Novel Ammonia Sensor Based on
Polypyrrole/Tin Oxide/MWCNT Nanocomposite
In present study, the synthesis and characterization of a novel polypyrrole (PPy)/tin oxide (SnO2)/MWCNT nanocomposite along with pristine polypyrrole is reported. These materials have been studied for their structural and morphological properties by FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. PPy/SnO2/MWCNT nanocomposite has been converted into a pellet-shaped sensor, and its ammonia sensing studies were carried out by calculating the variation in the DC electrical conductivity at different concentration of ammonia ranging from 10 to 1500 ppm. The sensing response of the sensor was determined at 1500, 1000, 500, 200, 100 and 10 ppm and found to be 70.4, 66.1, 62.2, 55.4, 50.8 and 39.7%, respectively The sensor showed a complete reversibility at lower concentrations along with excellent selectivity and stability. Finally, a sensing mechanism was also proposed involving polarons (charge carriers) of polypyrrole and lone pairs of ammonia molecules