Frontiers in Science 2017, 7(1): 23-26 DOI: 10.5923/j.fs.20170701.03 Detection of Environmentally Hazardous Nitrogen Oxide Pollutants using Polythiophene Derivative/Carbon nanotube-based Nanocomposite Ayesha Kausar Nanoscience and Technology Department, National Centre for Physics, Islamabad, Pakistan Abstract This article reports a novel effort towards the detection of environmentally hazardous NO and NO 2 gas pollutants. The required nanocomposite sensor was designed using poly(thiophene-3-[2-(2-meth -oxyethoxy)ethoxy]-2,5-diyl) (PThME), multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT), and 3-thiopheneacetate additive. Simple dispersion route was opted in this case. Gas sensing properties towards nitrogen oxides NO and NO 2 gases were measured. The response of PThME/MWCNT-based sensor for NO and NO 2 gases in the concentration range of 2-5 ppm was studied. The resistance change was found to increase with the increase in gas concentration. Moreover, the sensitivity of PThME/MWCNT 3-based gas sensors for 2 ppm NO gas was increased with rise in temperature. Time derivative of resistance for PThME/MWCNT was also observed higher for NO 2 gas. In a nutshell, novel PThME/MWCNT gas sensors possess high efficiency to distinguish NO and NO 2 based environmental pollution. Keywords Polymer, MWCNT, NOx, Sensor, Environment, Polluant 1. Introduction By definition, an air pollutant is any material which may harm human beings, animals, vegetation or other materials [1, 2]. In the case of humans, air pollutants may cause or add to mortality or serious illness. Therefore, air pollutants may cause potential hazard to human health. The determination of hazardous substances in atmosphere has, therefore receives an immense research attention [3]. Carbon nanotube (CNT) is a talented material with range of exclusive properties such as surface area, aspect ratio, mechanical strength, and electrical conductivity [4, 5]. Uniqueness of carbon nanotubes has rendered them competitors for specific applications. Research on CNT-based materials have pointed to range of probable applications in electronic devices, sensors, field emission devices, supercapacitors, batteries, actuators, membranes, and drug delivery systems [6-10]. It has also been an attractive material for the sensing and detection of gases [11]. CNT possess wide specific surface area and fine adsorption ability, therefore can be used as a gas sensing material. Nitrogen oxides such as nitrogen monoxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) are typical air pollutants causing serious environmental problems. The demands for * Corresponding author: asheesgreat@yahoo.com (Ayesha Kausar) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/fs Copyright © 2017 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved low cost gas sensors have been rapidly grown NOx detection. Consequently, highly sensitive and inexpensive NOx gas sensors have been developed to detect low concentration of NO and NO 2 gases. In this regard, polymer and CNT-based gas sensing materials have outstanding high sensitivity at low temperature with fast response and selectively [12-18]. NO 2 sensors for environmental applications have been developed using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique [19]. The sensors showed good response to low NO 2 concentrations and fine selectivity. Such sensors have also been prepared using pulsed laser ablation (PLA) method. The sensitivity of CNT-based gas sensors was dependent on the deposition methods [20]. Similarly, various types of gas sensors have been prepared using polymer and carbon nanotube [21]. The mechanism of CNT-based gas sensors depends on the p-type semiconducting properties of nanotubes. The electron transfer between CNT and oxidizing or reducing gas molecules adsorbed on nanotube surface may affect the electrical conductance [22, 23]. In this paper, gas sensors of a polythiophene derive polymer and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) have been developed for the first time. The objective of study was to see the effect of MWCNT loading on the performance of sensors towards the detection of toxic nitrogen oxides. The sensor was developed on ceramic substrate. The response of the prepared gas sensors to NO and NO 2 gases were measured and analyzed.