研究目的

To outline the status of the applications of conducting polymer nanocomposites in different fields, highlighting some specific important features and furnishing a representative scenario of the advances and progress in this field.

研究成果

Overall, nanocomposites of Pani, PPy, and PTh offer the safe detection of a wide variety of gases at room temperature. Room temperature sensing gives high stability and prevents structural changes such as polymer deformation. Conducting polymer-based gas sensors have potential applications in different contexts such as industries, household emission, vehicle emission control, environmental monitoring, and biosensors. Sensors are inexpensive, easy to fabricate, and operate at room temperature with very little power consumption. Future works may include the introduction of different chemical moieties and chemically modifying the polymer structure to customize the properties and enhance the selectivity for different gases. Finally, new strategies will be needed to fully understand the underlying mechanism involved in analyte sensing by conducting polymers and its nanocomposites which will assist in the fabrication and commercialization of highly selective sensors for specific agents.

研究不足

1. Different reaction setups even with a slight change in the reaction parameters may yield a polymer product with a completely different set of properties. 2. The dopant also plays an important role, and the quantification of dopant by chemical synthesis is a tedious job. 3. The shelf life of doped Pani, PPy, and PTh is relatively short due to the undoping reaction which might take place upon exposure to reducing conditions. 4. Such sensors in contrast to metal oxide sensors do not work at high temperatures because polymer degradation is often the competing reaction. 5. The sensor response towards a large number of nanocomposites is influenced by humidity which may cause the false response.