Fabrication of quartz crystal microbalance humidity sensors based on super-hydrophilic cellulose nanocrystals

Natural cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) possess outstanding properties, such as biodegradability, hydrophilicity, large specific surface areas, and are low in cost. A highly stable and sensitive humidity sensor based on a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) was prepared using CNCs as the sensing film. T...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cellulose (London) 2021-04, Vol.28 (6), p.3409-3421
Main Authors: Chen, Weixiang, Chen, Bo, Lv, Rixin, Wu, Milian, Zhou, Jie, Lu, Beili, Huang, Biao, Lu, Qilin, Tang, Lirong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodegradability
Bioorganic Chemistry
Cellulose
Ceramics
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Composites
Contact angle
Glass
Humidity
Hydrophilicity
Linearity
Microbalances
Nanocrystals
Natural Materials
Organic Chemistry
Original Research
Performance tests
Physical Chemistry
Polymer Sciences
Quartz
Quartz crystals
Relative humidity
Selectivity
Sensors
Stability tests
Sustainable Development
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Natural cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) possess outstanding properties, such as biodegradability, hydrophilicity, large specific surface areas, and are low in cost. A highly stable and sensitive humidity sensor based on a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) was prepared using CNCs as the sensing film. To investigate the impact of CNCs loading on the sensor performance, a series of humidity-sensitive performance tests, including linearity, response and recovery times, repeatability, hysteresis characteristics, selectivity, and long-term stability tests, was conducted. The experimental results indicated that the humidity sensor with CNCs loading of 2 μg (QCM-2) exhibited excellent logarithmic linearity, high sensitivity (32.35 Hz/% relative humidity (RH)), excellent reversible behavior, and long-term stability at a RH of 11–84%. The contact angle of QCM-2 was 12.5°, revealing its suitable hydrophilicity. Thus, we demonstrate that CNCs are great prospects for potential application in humidity sensors with high performance and low cost. Graphic abstract
ISSN:0969-0239
1572-882X
DOI:10.1007/s10570-021-03777-y