title: Multifunctional chemical vapor sensors of aligned carbon nanotube and polymer composites.
abstract: Partially coating perpendicularly aligned carbon nanotube arrays with an appropriate polymer thin film along their tube length provides a novel concept for developing new sensors of high sensitivity, good selectivity, and excellent environmental stability for the detection of a broad class of chemical vapors with low power consumption. The absorption and desorption of chemical vapors by the polymer matrix cause changes in the inter-tube distance and, hence, the surface resistance across the nanotube film. Simple measurements of the resistance change, therefore, constitute the nanotube-polymer chemical vapor sensors. These rationally designed, aligned carbon nanotube-polymer composite films are flexible and can be effectively integrated into many systems for a wide range of potential applications, including their use as multifunctional sensors for sensing chemical vapors, mechanical deformations, thermal and optical exposures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio 45469-0240, USA.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Ajit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: Tia Benson
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Tolle