High Sensitivity Carbon Nanotubes Flow-Rate Sensors and Their Performance Improvement by Coating

Sensors

Xing Yang¹  Zhaoying Zhou¹  Dingqu Wang¹ 

[1] MEMS Lab, Department of Precision Instruments & Mechanology, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China; E-Mails:

关键词: flow-rate sensor;    carbon nanotube;    hysterisis error;    coating;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s100504898

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

A new type of hot-wire flow-rate sensor (HWFS) with a sensing element made of a macro-sized carbon nanotube (CNT) strand is presented in this study. An effective way to improve repeatability of the CNT flow-rate sensor by coating a layer of Al₂O₃ on the CNT surface is proposed. Experimental results show that due to the large surface-to-volume ratio and thin coated Al₂O₃ layer, the CNT flow-rate sensor has higher sensitivity and faster response than a conventional platinum (Pt) HWFS. It is also demonstrated that the covered CNT flow-rate sensor has better repeatability than its bare counterpart due to insulation from the surrounding environment. The proposed CNT flow-rate sensor shows application potential for high-sensitivity measurement of flow rate.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2010 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.