Detection of Cigarette Smoke Using a Surface-Acoustic-Wave Gas Sensor with Non-Polymer-Based Oxidized Hollow Mesoporous Carbon Nanospheres

The objective of this research was to develop a surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) sensor of cigarette smoke to prevent tobacco hazards and to detect cigarette smoke in real time through the adsorption of an ambient tobacco marker. The SAW sensor was coated with oxidized hollow mesoporous carbon nanospheres (O-HMC) as a sensing material of a new type, which replaced a polymer. O-HMC were fabricated using nitric acid to form carboxyl groups on carbon frameworks. The modified conditions of O-HMC were analyzed with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The appropriately modified O-HMC are more sensitive than polyacrylic acid and hollow mesoporous carbon nanospheres (PAA-HMC), which is proven by normalization. This increases the sensitivity of a standard tobacco marker (3-ethenylpyridine, 3-EP) from 37.8 to 51.2 Hz/ppm and prevents the drawbacks of a polymer-based sensing material. On filtering particles above 1 μm and using tar to prevent tar adhesion, the SAW sensor detects cigarette smoke with sufficient sensitivity and satisfactory repeatability. Tests, showing satisfactory selectivity to the cigarette smoke marker (3-EP) with interfering gases CH(4), CO, and CO(2), show that CO and CO(2) have a negligible role during the detection of cigarette smoke.