Polymer–Carbon Black Composite Sensors in an Electronic Nose for Air-Quality Monitoring

An electronic nose that uses an array of 32 polymer–carbon black composite sensors has been developed, trained, and tested. By selecting a variety of chemical functionalities in the polymers used to make sensors, it is possible to construct an array capable of identifying and quantifying a broad range of target compounds, such as alcohols and aromatics, and distinguishing isomers and enantiomers (mirror-image isomers). A model of the interaction between target molecules and the polymer–carbon black composite sensors is under development to aid in selecting the array members and to enable identification of compounds with responses not stored in the analysis library.