Research Article
Impedimetric Humidity Sensor Based on Nanohybrid Composite
of Conducting Poly(diphenylamine sulfonic acid)
Fule Dinç Zor and Hüsnü Cankurtaran
Department of Chemistry, Yildiz Technical University, Davutpasa, 34220 Istanbul, Turkey
Correspondence should be addressed to S ¸ule Dinc ¸ Zor; sule dinc@yahoo.com
Received 22 December 2015; Accepted 10 February 2016
Academic Editor: Sang Sub Kim
Copyright © 2016 S ¸. Dinc ¸ Zor and H. Cankurtaran. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
Interdigitated thin flm humidity sensors have been prepared using organic/inorganic nanocomposites of poly(diphenylamine
sulfonic acid) (PSDA), 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS), and nano-ZnO. Humidity sensing properties of the sensors,
regarding the efect of nano-ZnO addition and the applied alternating current frequency, were studied by impedance measurements
in the frequency range of 100 Hz–1 kHz. It was found that the sensing properties of the ZnO based nanocomposite sensors had better
properties than those of the PSDA-MPTMS based composite due to contribution of the nanomaterial. Good sensitivity (about three
orders’ magnitude change in impedance), linear response, rapid response (90 s) and recovery (60 s), and low hysteresis within 4%
as well as good repeatability and stability in the range from 12% to 95% RH were obtained.
1. Introduction
Te development of humidity sensors has showed a remark-
able progress because of using various types of sensing mate-
rials in recent years. Te sensing materials used in humidity
sensors can be classifed into ceramics [1–3], polymers [4, 5],
and composites [6–8]. Ceramic humidity sensors based on
semiconductor metal oxides have some critical limitations
such as elevated working temperature, insufcient sensitivity,
and repeatability. Polymeric humidity sensors have been
widely studied for ten years. Almost all of the humidity
sensors based on polymers sensitively operate at room
temperature. In terms of the stability of the sensors, some
highly hydrophilic polyelectrolyte and functional polymer
based sensors are not sufciently resistant at high humidity
conditions. However, their hydrophilicity and ionic conduc-
tivity can be easily adjusted using various methods such as
copolymerization, cross-linking with relatively hydrophobic
and insulating polymers. Composites in humidity sensors
consist of polymer and another material which is insulating
or conducting polymer [9], metal [10, 11], metal oxide [12,
13], or nanomaterials [14, 15]. So, these composite humidity
sensors, which combine with unique property and synergistic
efect of each component, have some advantages such as high
sensitivity, small hysteresis, quick response, and high stability.
Nanoscaled materials have high adsorption capacity due
to their small grain size and large specifc surface area. Many
kinds of nanometal oxides such as, TiO
2
[16, 17], SnO
2
[18, 19],
SiO
2
[20], ZrO
2
[21], and ZnO [22–27] have been widely
employed alone or along with other polymers in humidity
sensors due to these properties. Among them, ZnO is one of
the most well-known gas sensing materials, which has been
extensively carried out for study of some gases and vapors
such as ethanol [28–30], acetone [31], ammonia [32], NO
2
[33], CO [34], H
2
S [35], and hydrogen [36].
Conducting polymers which are able to change in elec-
trical conductivity with relative humidity are good candi-
dates for humidity sensing material. Tey also have high
sensitivity at room temperature, ease of synthesis, facile
processability, and high stability [37]. Moreover, the com-
bination of conducting polymers with inorganic nanopar-
ticles leads to a development on humidity sensors with
superior properties. Many reports have been published
about humidity sensor applications based on nanomate-
rial/conducting polymer composites [21, 38–40]. In our
previous study, we reported that the water soluble/conductive
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Journal of Sensors
Volume 2016, Article ID 5479092, 9 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/5479092