Smart Poly(styrene)/Carbon Black Conductive Polymer Composites Films for Styrene Vapour Sensing

Conductive Polymer Composites (CPC) can be used to elaborate sensing elements able to detect solvent vapours at very low concentrations (some ppm). Our experiments have shown that combining atactic PS or syndiotactic PS to five carbon black of different specific surfaces, allows obtaining a wide range of electrical resistances and surface morphologies. The CPC films have been elaborated from solutions by spraying and spin coating, the former being more adequate to design sensitive films with tuneable electrical properties. The larger electrical responses were obtained with an initial resistance close to 10⁴ Ω. Our sensors gave a response for very low styrene concentration (some ppm) increasing as a function of vapour concentration.