MWCNT Devices Fabricated by Dielectrophoresis: Study of Their Electrical Behavior Related to Deposited Nanotube Amount for Gas Sensing Applications

Abstract

Intensive research has been focused on investigating new sensing materials, such as carbon nanotubes (CNT) because of their promising characteristics. However, there are challenges related to their application in commercial devices such as sensitivity, compatibility, and complexity of miniaturization, among others. We report the study of the electrical behavior of devices composed by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) deposited between aluminum electrodes on glass substrates by means of dielectrophoresis (DEP), which is a simple and cost-effective method. The devices were fabricated by varying the DEP process time. Remarkable changes in their electric resistance were noticed depending on the MWCNT quantities deposited. Other electrical properties of devices such as high sensitivity, fast response time and stability are also characterized in humid environment. A humidity sensing mechanism is proposed on the basis of charge transfer between adsorbed water molecules and the MWNTC surface or between water and the glass surface.