ZnO piezoelectric film resonator modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes/polyethyleneimine bilayer for the detection of trace formaldehyde

We fabricated a ZnO piezoelectric film resonator modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes/polyethyleneimine bilayer as the sensitive layer for the detection of trace gaseous formaldehyde. The resonator consists of a ZnO piezoelectric stack and an SiO2/W Bragg reflector. The multi-walled carbon nanotubes were self-assembled on the resonator surface using the n-octadecyl mercaptan monolayer and further modified with polyethyleneimine. The formaldehyde molecules are absorbed on the multi-walled carbon nanotubes/polyethyleneimine bilayer based on the reversible nucleophilic addition reaction between formaldehyde molecules and the amine functional groups on polyethyleneimine. The high working frequency (~ 3.1 GHz) of the resonator provided enough mass sensitivity to probe the ultra-small mass change of the sensitive biolayer. The downshift of resonant frequency was linear with the increase of formaldehyde concentration. The experimental results show that our proposed sensor can yield rapid, sensitive, reversible and repeatable responses to formaldehyde in the concentration range of 50–400 ppb at room temperature. The piezoelectric film resonator is a promising and feasible sensor for the indoor pollution monitoring.