Flexible Room-Temperature NH3 Sensor for Ultrasensitive, Selective, and Humidity-Independent Gas Detection

Ammonia (NH₃) is an irritant gas with a unique pungent odor; sub-parts per million-level breath ammonia is a medical biomarker for kidney disorders and Helicobacter pylori bacteria-induced stomach infections. The humidity varies in both ambient environment and exhaled breath, and thus humidity dependence of gas-sensing characteristics is a great obstacle for real-time applications. Herein, flexible, humidity-independent, and room-temperature ammonia sensors are fabricated by the thermal evaporation of CuBr on a polyimide substrate and subsequent coating of a nanoscale moisture-blocking CeO₂ overlayer by electron-beam evaporation. CuBr sensors coated with a 100 nm-thick CeO₂ overlayer exhibits an ultrahigh response (resistance ratio) of 68 toward 5 ppm ammonia with excellent gas selectivity, rapid response, reversibility, and humidity-independent sensing characteristics at room temperature. In addition, the sensing performance remains stable after repetitive bending and long-term operation. Moreover, the sensors exhibit significant response to the simulated exhaled breath of patients with H. pylori infection; the simulated breath contains 50 ppb NH₃. The sensors thus show promising potential in detecting sub-parts per million-level NH₃, regardless of humidity fluctuations, which can open up new applications in wearable devices for in situ medical diagnosis and indoor/outdoor environment monitoring.