Preparation of sulfur-doped PANI/TiO₂ nanowires and its sensing properties to mercury

Abstract

TiO₂ nanowires were successfully prepared via a simple hydrothermal method and a layer of sulfurized polyaniline(PANI) was loaded onto their surface to prepare a sensor of elemental mercury at room temperature. The sulfurized PANI/TiO₂ composite sensor has a high sensitivity to mercury in a range of density from 5.57 mg/m³ to 126.18 mg/m³ at room temperature. The response time and recovery time are relatively short. We also investigated the sensitivity and response time to other interfering gases, such as NO₂, SO₂ and NH₃. And the sulfurized PANI/TiO₂ composite material shows a good selectivity for element mercury. The microscopic structure of the sensor was investigated via X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX). The sulfurized PANI/TiO₂ composite material shows a high sensitive response, and good selectivity to element mercury, which is promising for the application in the detection of element mercury.

Keywords

Hg sensor / PANI/TiO₂ / Hg pollution / Mercury emissions monitoring

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