TY - JOUR
T1 - Chitosan/polyacrylonitrile composite nanofibers for humidity sensing
AU - Liu, Jialin
AU - Zhang, Yuxuan
AU - Qin, Wang
AU - Lu, Xiaowang
AU - Cai, Yanhua
AU - Cheng, Junfeng
AU - Liu, Chunlin
AU - de Smet, Louis C.P.M.
AU - Cao, Zheng
PY - 2025/9/1
Y1 - 2025/9/1
N2 - A coating of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers was prepared onto gold-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensors using an electrospinning method. Different deposition amounts of these nanofibers were obtained by controlling the deposition time. Subsequently, chitosan (CS) was spin coated onto these modified QCM sensors to obtain coatings of CS-PAN composite nanofibers. The resulting construct was employed as a QCM humidity sensor. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were used to characterize CS-PAN composite nanofibers in terms of their surface structure, morphology, roughness, dispersion, and composition. The humidity sensing characteristics of the CS-PAN composite nanofibers were studied in detail by QCM. The CS-PAN composite nanofiber modified QCM sensor responds strongly and reversibly to humidity, with a maximum frequency response of -1470 Hz (11–98 % RH), a high fitting correlation coefficient (R2 = 0.9998), and a fast response/recovery time of < 4 s/33 s and 21 s/63 s at low and high humidity level, respectively. In addition, the QCM sensor based on CS-PAN nanofibers show high selectivity, high repeatability and long-term stability. The two-step electrospin/spin-coating fabrication of the high-correlation CS-PAN humidity sensor is not only facile and cost effective, but also versatile in terms of nanofiber functionalization.
AB - A coating of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers was prepared onto gold-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensors using an electrospinning method. Different deposition amounts of these nanofibers were obtained by controlling the deposition time. Subsequently, chitosan (CS) was spin coated onto these modified QCM sensors to obtain coatings of CS-PAN composite nanofibers. The resulting construct was employed as a QCM humidity sensor. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were used to characterize CS-PAN composite nanofibers in terms of their surface structure, morphology, roughness, dispersion, and composition. The humidity sensing characteristics of the CS-PAN composite nanofibers were studied in detail by QCM. The CS-PAN composite nanofiber modified QCM sensor responds strongly and reversibly to humidity, with a maximum frequency response of -1470 Hz (11–98 % RH), a high fitting correlation coefficient (R2 = 0.9998), and a fast response/recovery time of < 4 s/33 s and 21 s/63 s at low and high humidity level, respectively. In addition, the QCM sensor based on CS-PAN nanofibers show high selectivity, high repeatability and long-term stability. The two-step electrospin/spin-coating fabrication of the high-correlation CS-PAN humidity sensor is not only facile and cost effective, but also versatile in terms of nanofiber functionalization.
KW - Chitosan
KW - Electrospinning
KW - Humidity sensor
KW - Polyacrylonitrile
KW - QCM
U2 - 10.1016/j.surfin.2025.107302
DO - 10.1016/j.surfin.2025.107302
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105012262927
SN - 2468-0230
VL - 72
JO - Surfaces and Interfaces
JF - Surfaces and Interfaces
M1 - 107302
ER -