A remote sensor for detecting methane based on palladium-decorated single walled carbon nanotubes

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 7; pp. 8814 - 8826
• Main Authors: Liu, Jian, Li, Guomin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 10.07.2013; MDPI
• Subjects: Carbon; Coal mining; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; gas sensor; Gases; Methane - analysis; methane concentration; Nanotubes, Carbon - chemistry; Nanotubes, Carbon - ultrastructure; Palladium; Palladium - chemistry; Pd-SWCNTs; Polyethylene; Radio frequency identification; Radio Frequency Identification Device; Remote Sensing Technology - instrumentation; RFID; room temperature; Sensors; Temperature; Thin films; Transducers; Transistors; Wireless Technology - instrumentation
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s130708814

The remote detection of the concentration of methane at room temperature is performed by a sensor that is configured by the combination of radio frequency identification (RFID), and functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The proposed sensor is schemed as a thin film RFID tag in a polyethylene substrate, on which a metal trace dipole, a metal trace T impedance matching networks, a 0.5 µm-CMOS RF/DC rectifier chipset and a sensor head of palladium-decorated single walled carbon nanotubes (Pd-SWCNTs) are surface mounted in cascade. The performances of the sensor are examined and described by the defined parameters of the received signal strength index (RSSI) and the comparative analog identifier (∆AID). Results validate the sensor's ability to detect molecules of methane at room temperature, showing that the RSSI can increase 4 dB and the ∆AID can increase 3% in response to methane concentrations ranging from zero to 100 ppm.