Vapor response of PPO based chemicapacitors

A parallel-plate capacitor, which uses the commercial polymer poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene)oxide (PPO) as dielectric material, was fabricated and characterized. The aim is to exploit the ability of the nanoporous-crystalline (NC) phases of this polymer (α and β) to absorb volatile organic compounds (VOC), even when present at trace levels. Capacitance changes of the prepared capacitors due to the sorption of two analytes (carbon tetrachloride and methyl ethyl ketone), whose dielectric constants are lower and higher (2.2 and 18.5, respectively) with respect to PPO (2.5), are reported. This study provides a preliminary demonstration that capacitors based on the NC forms of PPO, are promising as chemicapacitors for many VOCs. • Setup of a parallel-plate capacitor using thin PPO films as dielectric material. • Nanoporous crystalline (NC) PPO thin films enhancing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) sorption. • Changing in capacitance response exposing the device to different VOCs.