Integration of carbon nanotube films with SRRs for air quality sensing applications

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attractive features for integration in wireless sensor nodes due to their small size, large surface area for current flow, low power dissipation, and for observable changes in their electrical properties upon reaction with chemical and biological analytes. In this paper, we discuss the integration of CNT film with split ring resonators and analyze the shift in resonant frequency when loaded with CNT film. S-parameter measurements on a triple complementary split-ring resonator (TCSRR) loaded with CNT film demonstrates a shift of approximately 110 MHz (4.9% of the resonant frequency) before and after gas exposure, demonstrating the feasibility of incorporating a defected ground structure into a CNT gas sensor.