Preparation of Gas Sensor Based on Polymer Nanocomposite for Qualitative Detection of Hydrogen Sulfide

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a by-product often produced in petrochemical processes, is well known as a dangerous and highly toxic gas to living organisms. The smell of H2S concentration of higher than 100 ppm can cause severe biological condition. Therefore, the detection of this gas is a crucial issue. In this work, nanocomposite porous films of polyurethane/silver (PU/Ag) and poly(vinylchloride)/silver (PVC/Ag) consisting of 7 wt% nanoparticles were fabricated by phase inversion method and studied its qualitative detection capacity for H2S. The results indicated that after exposure to 50 ppm H2S, black points appeared on the surface of the test films within 10 min. However, the color completely disappeared when the films were left in the air for 20 min. Structural characteristics of the nanocomposites were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) to confirm possible interactions which may have formed between the polymers and nanoparticles. According to the results, Ag nanoparticles were well dispersed in PU and PVC matrices giving particle sizes of less than 62 and 76 nm, respectively. The observations revealed that two recommended nanocomposites (PU/Ag and PVC/Ag) could be used for detection of hydrogen sulfide at low level concentration. The response of Ag-embedded polymer films toward H2S vapour showed a better detection by PU/Ag compared to PVC/Ag. Therefore, the suggested silver nanoparticle-loaded PU and PVC sensor films are easily portable, simple to use and cost-less compared with other types of hydrogen sulfide sensors.