Study of the properties of Cu-containing polyacrylonitrile nanostructured gas-sensing films

The Cu-containing polyacrylonitrile (PAN) thin films (0.04 – 0.6 μm thicknesses) were fabricated using IR-pyrolysis in ambient argon in different temperature and time modes.The films were studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). CuCl, Cu2O and Cu crystalline inclusions were obtained in the nanocomposite films b y XRD. The film microstructure was analyzed by AFM and TEM: the typical morphology corresponds to composite film with nanoparticles of 10 nm average size in the polymer matrix. The film electrical resistance was in the range from 4.0·102 to 2.7·1011Ω. The Cu-containing PAN nanocomposite films are promising for application as low-temperature NO2 sensor in 36.5 – 255 ppm concentration range.