A novel highly-sensitive antenna-based “smart skin” gas sensor utilizing carbon nanotubes and inkjet printing

TitleA novel highly-sensitive antenna-based “smart skin” gas sensor utilizing carbon nanotubes and inkjet printing
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2011
AuthorsLee, H., K. Naishadham, MM. Tentzeris, and G. Shaker
Conference Name2011 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (APSURSI)
Date Published07/2011
PublisherIEEE
Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attractive features for implementation in wireless sensor nodes due to their small size, light weight and low power requirements, and their ability to be functionalized with conductive polymers for the electronic detection of a range of chemical and biological agents. In this paper, we present a single-walled CNT sensor for gas detection that is printed on paper substrate and integrated with a co-planar RF antenna for potential application as a light-weight wireless sensor node. The CNT thin-film loads the antenna and changes its resonant frequency upon exposure to the gas, the resonant frequency shift then being used as a discriminator for the gas detection in trace quantities. Measurements of a CNT-based sensor when exposed to low levels of ammonia reveal a resonance frequency shift of 300 MHz for a patch antenna centered around 6 GHz. To the authors' knowledge, this is the …

URLhttps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/5996605