Green Composite of Banana Powder and Graphite-Incorporated PANI Deposited on Cotton Fabric with Enhanced Humidity Sensitivity.

Recent advancements in organic material-based sensor technology have created a promising field for designing sensors that are both environmentally friendly and cost-effective. An approach has thus been undertaken to produce advanced electronic materials by incorporating polyaniline (PANI), graphite (Gr), and banana powder (BP) onto a cotton fabric (CF) substrate. Readily available white CF from the local market were used for this work. Using a straightforward physical vapor deposition technique, a uniform layer of graphite and BP-infused PANI was deposited onto the CF framework to create the desired electronic material system, PANI/Gr/BP@CF composites. Comprehensive analyses were carried out on the resulting active material by using various characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), and electrical charge transport analysis. The characteristic structural, optical, and electrical properties, as obtained from these studies, have been found suitable for an electronic material for advanced applications and so studied further to observe humidity sensing properties. The performance of the prepared materials in humidity detection was evaluated by measuring the resistive response under varying humidity levels through current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. This study reveals that PANI/Gr/BP@CF composites show a very high sensitivity to the variation in humidity and evolved as a low-cost, flexible, wearable, and environmentally friendly humidity sensing electronic material.