Sensors have attracted intensive attention in various fields spanning from scientific research to industries. Among all the device configurations and sensing materials, resistive sensors based on conducting polymers (CPs) and their composites have been regarded as one of the simplest approaches to detecting many fundamental stimuli, including temperature, pressure, chemicals, humidity and so forth. It has been reported that their device performance can be effectively improved by nanostructured morphologies and electrical percolation. However, gaps and challenges still remain, limiting their further investigation and practical application. Only a few attempts have up to date been made to combine nanostructuring and percolation. Moreover, most studies discuss the bond percolation of CP networks based on conducting pathways instead of the site percolation of CP nanoparticles in nano-scaled lattices. Last but not the least, most previous studies focused on one single stimulus and only a few devices can exhibit desirable multifunctional sensing performance. Here, a series of nanocomposites based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles are prepared via facile blending. Then, they are used to fabricate resistive sensors via a solution processing method of direct evaporation. Their site percolation and surface morphologies on interdigitated electrodes are investigated. With different weight percentages of PEDOT nanoparticles in the sensing layers, resistive sensors prepared in and after the percolation region are studied in terms of their responses to temperature, nitrogen dioxide, and airflow rate. Percolation sensors based on PEDOT/PS nanocomposites in this work exhibit ideal multi-responsive performance, showing their potential as multifunctional sensors.

Resistive sensors based on PEDOT/PS nanocomposites: Site percolation and multifunctional sensing

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