Smart capacitive CO2 sensor

A capacitive gas sensor with a highly selective, sensitive and reversible sensing layer for detecting CO2 at atmospheric pressure was developed. The sensor operating temperature is less than 60 degrees C. The sensing layer consists of a hybrid material. We report an interdigitated transducer coated with a hybrid organic-inorganic nanomaterial as a sensitive layer. It is shown that the nanocomposite can detect CO2 gas in the range of interest for environmental sensing between 500 to 3000 ppm at moderate low temperature. Furthermore, the response and recovery times are below 2min. The reported results demonstrate the capability of the newly developed sensor to be used as a CO2 gas detector in several applications such as indoor monitoring, security, gas leakage and medical diagnostic.