Study of Swift Heavy Ion Modified Conducting Polymer Composites for Application as Gas Sensor

A polyaniline-based conducting composite was prepared by oxidativepolymerisation of aniline in a polyvinylchloride (PVC) matrix. The coherent free standingthin films of the composite were prepared by a solution casting method. The polyvinylchloride-polyaniline composites exposed to 120 MeV ions of silicon with total ion fluenceranging from 1011 to 1013 ions/cm2, were observed to be more sensitive towards ammoniagas than the unirradiated composite. The response time of the irradiated composites wasobserved to be comparably shorter. We report for the first time the application of swiftheavy ion modified insulating polymer conducting polymer (IPCP) composites for sensingof ammonia gas.