Conductive-carbon-black filled PDMS chemiresistor sensor for the detection of volatile organic compounds

We present the conductive-carbon-black filled PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) composite as the sensing material for the detection of volatile organic compounds (cyclohexane and isopropanol). The sensing composite film is immobilized on the interdigitated gold microelectrode pairs. The resistance change ratios with the organic compounds vapors have been examined. The measurement results show that the outputs of the sensor as a function of the concentrations of the organic compound vapors are linear, and the sensitivities of the sensor to the vapors are up to 2.78×10^-7 ppm^-1 for cyclohexane and 2.37×10^-7 ppm^-1 for isopropanol at room temperature. The response/recovery time is 3.5 s and 1.5 s for cyclohexane, 1.0 s and 1.5 s for isopropanol, respectively.