METALLOPORPHYRIN-FUNCTIONALIZED CNT COMPOSITE AS CHEMIRESISTIVE SENSOR FOR DETECTION OF NITROBENZENE AND CHLOROBENZENE VAPORS

摘要

The present invention relates to a process for fabrication of highly sensitive vapor sensors for detection of nitrobenzene (NB) and chlorobenzene (CB) in vapor form from the nanocomposites prepared by non-covalent functionalization of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with metaltetraphenylporphyrins (M-TPP). These nanocomposites were characterized by using FTIR, XRay diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopic techniques which suggest formation of nano-sized clusters of M-TPP around the f-MWNTs surface. The sensors made from Co-TPP, Cu-TPP and Fe-TPP show response time of few seconds on exposure to both the NB & CB vapors while the recovery time for NB is significantly different compared to CB. The significantly different recovery times and careful analysis of the data using principal component analysis leads to a device which is portable, low cost, reversible and very fast for selective detection of nitrobenzene and chlorobenzene chemicals in the vapor form.