Theoretical and Experimental Investigation on SPR Gas Sensor Based on ZnO/Polypyrrole Interface For Ammonia Sensing Applications

Abstract This work includes the exploitation of laboratory-assembled SPR technique for the application of gas sensor at room temperature. The refractive index change at the interface of ZnO/Polypyrrole with adsorption of gases (NO2 and NH3) is the basis of SPR gas sensor. The theoretical simulations were done to find out the optimum thickness of ZnO and Polypyrrole composite films for sharp SPR reflectance values. Theoretical SPR curves obtained by changing the value of thickness of Gold nanoparticles film and incident wavelength are also presented in the manuscript. Experimental studies were done to validate the theoretical studies and discussion were done about the interaction of NH3 gas with prism/Au/ZnO/Polypyrrole system. Here, ZnO/Polypyrrole multilayer structure is the sensing layer to develop highly efficient SPR based NH3 gas sensor. The outcome of these results validate the significance of SPR technique for application of interaction of surface adsorbed analytes, with the interface of dielectrics and sensing material.