Sensing of Acetone Vapours using Pvdzr Composite

An actual problem of medical diagnostics is that the determination of acetone concentration in air exhaled by persons. For industrial health and safety, environmental monitoring and process control Gas detection instruments are needed. Conducting polymer composites have various industrial applications. The most dangerous pollutants released each year by anthropogenic sources are benzene, toluene, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen sulfide or ammonia They have harmful effects both on human beings and animals. People may develop a headache, fatigue and even narcosis when the concentration of acetone in air is higher than 10,000 ppm. Hence, detecting and measuring acetone concentrations in the workplace or human body are necessary for our safety and health. Gas sensors play vital role in detecting, monitoring and controlling the presence of hazardous and poisonous gases in the atmosphere at very low concentrations. In the present work, a pasty solution of PVDF/ZrO2 was coated on glass plates using an Apex Spin Coating unit (SCU 2005) and the samples were tested for gas sensing. For this study, acetone, ethanol and ammonia gases were used and the electrical resistance of polymer composites over the vapours were determined using MECO 603 digital multimeter. The vapours of acetone were detected by the sensor. The sensing cycle is reversible upto to two cycles. In order to validate the selectivity of the gas sensor, polymer composite plates were exposed to ammonia and ethanol vapours which do not show any response. The PVDF / ZrO2 (PVDZr) composites were characterized by using PXRD, FTIR and SEM. The results show that the thick film of PVDZr composite can function as a very good gas sensor for acetone vapours.