A room temperature 9CB‐based chemical sensor

Abstract

Abstract The gas sensing potential of the 9CB (4‐cyano‐4′‐nonylbiphenyl) liquid crystal compound at ambient conditions is investigated. The solid at room temperature 9CB is incorporated in a hybrid gel formulation of ionic liquid/liquid crystal droplets immobilized in a gelatin matrix. Several ionic liquids are tested in order to tackle the crystallization of 9CB and also a 9CB‐based mixture with a different smectogen is considered. The resulting formulation demonstrates great analyte responding capabilities and can be considered an alternative format for artificial olfaction purposes.

Keywords

• electronic nose
• gas sensing
• ionic liquid
• liquid crystal
• machine learning
• smectic mesophases