Array of nanofibrous polyaniline-based sensors with different chemo-structural assembling

Among various attempts of mimicking olfactory system the present work focuses on the sensorial surface of mammalian olfactory cells. The aim of this research is to develop, in a single step, synthetic fibres mimicking the long, no motile cilia of the olfactory cells. Electrospun conductive nanofibrous layers of doped polyaniline, suitably blended to a group of polymers capable to carry the jet, have been easily assembled on chemoresistors (interdigital microelectrodes, IDEs). Such highly sensitive sensors have been able to detect gases in traces of relevant medical significance, mainly because of high density of sorption sites of the sensor. Changing the carriers, the range of sensitivity to gases could be tuned. The key role of the selected carrier polymers (polyethylenoxide of different molecular weights, PEO, polyvinilpyrrolidone, PVP, and polystyrene, PS) to the final sensor features has been highlighted by morphology analysis (texture analysis) and electrical measurements before and after gas interaction.