Advances in electrospun nanofiber fabrication for polyaniline (PANI)-based chemoresistive sensors for gaseous ammonia.

Ammonia (NH 3) is one of the most abundant inorganic pollutants present in air. Efficient and rapid detection of ammonia is important to maintain the quality of air in both indoor as well as outdoor environment. Among various sensing principles, resistive sensing is a very popular option for the accurate detection of ammonia levels. Further, out of all the materials for sensing applications, polyaniline (PANI) is reported as a highly recommendable option for the construction of such sensing system. Specifically, the utility of PANI modifed by a facile electrospinning method has been demonstrated in the fabrication of efficient sensing systems for gaseous ammonia. This review was organized to offer insight into the potential utility of electrospinning approaches in the construction of PANI-based chemoresistive sensors for gaseous ammonia. The reliability of diverse electrospun PANI-based sensing systems for ammonia was assessed based on a comprehensive evaluation of their performance with respect to key sensing parameters (e.g., sensitivity, selectivity, response time, and limit of detection). • The electrospinning can generate high quality polymers for versatile sensing applications. • PANI is one of the most suitable polymers for sensing gaseous ammonia. • Combination of electrospinning and PANI can fabricate high performance ammonia sensors. • PANI and its composite structures were developed through electrospinning for sensing NH 3. • The PANI/TiO 2 composite can show extremely low detectivity against NH 3 such as 50 ppt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]