Conductivity modeling of gas sensors based on copper phthalocyanine thin films

The main objective of this work is to study the electronic conductivity of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) thin films in presence of certain strong oxidizing gases involved in air pollution, particularly NO2, for use as gas sensor devices. To achieve this objective, the first part presents a study of the conductivity evolution of these sensors, in order to find the optimal operating temperature and to improve the kinetics of adsorption of gas molecules on the surface of the thin layer. In a second step, we tried to develop a mathematical model that describes as closely as possible the electrical behavior of these sensors in order to simulate their operation and optimize their performances. Elovich models have been applied to both gas adsorption and desorption phases and have led to good similarities between theoretical and measured response curves.Keywords: Gas sensors - thin layer - phthalocyanine - conductivity - modelin