Organic material as gas sensor for farm application

Polyaniline is a organic material with potential use in electronic nose sensors and has been shown to be highly sensitive to ammonia. This paper shows results of the characterization of ultra thin films of Polyaniline for applications as gaseous ammonia sensor at NH/sub 3/ monitoring at chicken farms. A sensitive layer based on such material deposited on the top of interdigital gold electrodes previously deposited onto a glass substrate by in situ oxidative polymerization having different thicknesses. The electrical characteristics are obtained through conductivity measurements in continuous field (dc), in order to determinate its dependence with ammonia concentration, humidity and temperature, the main parameters to be controlled in the chicken's farm. The results show the potential of such class of device to be used as active material in chicken grows applications.