Humidity and VOC Sensing Performance of a PVP and PVP/ZSM5 Composite

We have successfully developed poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and PVP/zeolite composite-coated nanomechanical Membrane-type Surface stress Sensor (MSS) for humidity and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) sensing. The VOCs include toluene, acetone, ethanol, methanol, hexane and isopropanol. At room temperature (RT), the PVP-coated MSS shows a highest response of 58.44 mV to humidity and the PVP/zeolite composite-coated MSS exhibits a highest response of 28.10 mV to isopropanol. In contrast, very weak response to hexane around 1 mV was observed for both PVP and PVP/ZSM5-coated MSS. The experimental results confirm potential use of these sensors for VOC and humidity sensing at RT.