Hybrids of hexadecafluorinated copper phthalocyanine (F 16 CuPc) with carboxylic functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs-COOH) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-COOH) have been synthesized using a solution assembly method. The resulting hybrid materials have been characterized by Transmission electron microscopy, Raman, UV–vis, X-Ray photoelectron, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic techniques and finally studied for gas sensing application. Cl 2 selective chemiresistive gas sensors have been fabricated using these hybrids with detection limit up to 0.27 ppb. The main characteristics of these sensors are their excellent baseline recovery and reversibility upon repeated exposure to Cl 2 . F 16 CuPc/SWCNTs-COOH based sensors showed a gas response as large as 35.82% with a fast response time of 9 s towards 2 ppm of Cl 2. A plausible gas sensing mechanism for charge transfer in hybrids on interacting with Cl 2 has been proposed on basis of X-ray photoelectron and impedance spectroscopic studies. These outcomes clearly indicate the great potential of the low cost solution assembly approach for sensor device.
