title: High sensitivity carbon nanotubes flow-rate sensors and their performance improvement by coating.
abstract: A new type of hot-wire flow-rate sensor (HWFS) with a sensing element made of a macro-sized carbon nanotube (CNT) strand is presented in this study. An effective way to improve repeatability of the CNT flow-rate sensor by coating a layer of Al(2)O(3) on the CNT surface is proposed. Experimental results show that due to the large surface-to-volume ratio and thin coated Al(2)O(3) layer, the CNT flow-rate sensor has higher sensitivity and faster response than a conventional platinum (Pt) HWFS. It is also demonstrated that the covered CNT flow-rate sensor has better repeatability than its bare counterpart due to insulation from the surrounding environment. The proposed CNT flow-rate sensor shows application potential for high-sensitivity measurement of flow rate.
authors.affiliation: MEMS Lab, Department of Precision Instruments & Mechanology, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China. yangxing@tsinghua.edu.cn
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Zhaoying
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Dingqu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu