Optimization of waste quail eggshells as biocomposites for polyaniline in ammonia gas detection

A simple, cost‐effective, and novel chemical sensor for ammonia (NH3) gas detection was developed from polyaniline (PANI)/quail eggshell (QES) composites. QES is a natural waste enriched in calcium carbonate. In this work, pure PANI was synthesized from chemical oxidation method and PANI/QES composites were prepared from physical mixing of QES with the synthesized PANI at different mass ratio. A series of complementary techniques including Fourier transform infrared and ultraviolet‐visible spectrometers, scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive detection coupled with mapping, thermogravimetric analysis, and X‐ray diffractometer were used to characterize the physicochemical and textural properties of the biocomposites. From the results, PANI/QES composite with a mass ratio of 1 exhibited the lowest NH3 detection limit of 5.24 ppm with a linear correlation coefficient (R2) of close to unity (0.9932) between the signal and NH3 gas concentration. As a whole, the PANI/QES biocomposites synthesized from this work exhibited excellent selectivity toward NH3 gas even in the presence of other gas impurities, such as acetone, ethanol, and hexane. For the sensor reusability, the PANI/QES biocomposites can be reused in the application of NH3 gas detection for at least 4 cycles.