Elaboration of ammonia gas sensors based on electrodeposited polypyrrole—Cobalt phthalocyanine hybrid films

The electrochemical incorporation of a sulfonated cobalt phthalocyanine (sCoPc) in conducting polypyrrole (PPy) was done, in the presence or absence of LiClO4, in order to use the resulting hybrid material for the sensing of ammonia. After electrochemical deposition, the morphological features and structural properties of polypyrrole/phthalocyanine hybrid films were investigated and compared to those of polypyrrole films. A gas sensor consisting in platinum microelectrodes arrays was fabricated using silicon microtechnologies, and the polypyrrole and polypyrrole/phthalocyanine films were electrochemically deposited on the platinum microelectrodes arrays of this gas sensor. When exposed to ammonia, polymer-based gas sensors exhibited a decrease in conductance due to the electron exchange between ammonia and sensitive polymer-based layer. The characteristics of the gas sensors (response time, response amplitude, reversibility) were studied for ammonia concentrations varying from 1 ppm to 100 ppm. Polypyrrole/phthalocyanine films exhibited a high sensitivity and low detection limit to ammonia as well as a fast and reproducible response at room temperature. The response to ammonia exposition of polypyrrole films was found to be strongly enhanced thanks to the incorporation of the phthalocyanine in the polypyrrole matrix.