Metal-Organic Framework-Templated PdO-CoO Nanocubes Functionalized by SWCNTs: Improved NO Reaction Kinetics on Flexible Heating Film.

Detection and control of air quality are major concerns in recent years for environmental monitoring and healthcare. In this work, we developed an integrated sensor architecture comprised of nanostructured composite sensing layers and a flexible heating substrate for portable and real-time detection of nitrogen dioxide (NO). As sensing layers, PdO-infiltrated CoO hollow nanocubes (PdO-CoO HNCs) were prepared by calcination of Pd-embedded Co-based metal-organic framework polyhedron particles. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were functionalized with PdO-CoO HNCs to control conductivity of sensing layers. As a flexible heating substrate, the Ni mesh electrode covered with a 40 nm thick Au layer (i.e., Ni(core)/Au(shell) mesh) was embedded in a colorless polyimide (cPI) film. As a result, SWCNT-functionalized PdO-CoO HNCs sensor exhibited improved NO detection property at 100 °C, with high sensitivity (S) of 44.11% at 20 ppm and a low detection limit of 1 ppm. The accelerated reaction and recovery kinetics toward NO of SWCNT-functionalized PdO-CoO HNCs were achieved by generating heat on the Ni(core)/Au(shell) mesh-embedded cPI substrate. The SWCNT-functionalized porous metal oxide sensing layers integrated on the mechanically stable Ni(core)/Au(shell) mesh heating substrate can be envisioned as an essential sensing platform for realization of low-temperature operation wearable chemical sensor.