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Optical Society of Korea (한국광학회)
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Highly Sensitive Optical-fiber Humidity Sensor Based on Nafion-PVA Sol-gel

  • Ning, Wang (College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China)) ;
  • Yuhao, Li (College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China)) ;
  • Xiaolei, Yin (College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China)) ;
  • Wenting, Liu (College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China)) ;
  • Shiqi, Liu (College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China)) ;
  • Liang, Xu (College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China)) ;
  • Xuwei, Zhao (College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China)) ;
  • Yanxi, Zhong (College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China))
  • Received : 2022.11.03
  • Accepted : 2023.01.07
  • Published : 2023.02.25
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Abstract

A highly sensitive optical-fiber humidity sensor is demonstrated in this paper. By using Nafion-PVA sol-gel and single-mode optical fibers, the Fabry-Perot humidity sensor is easily fabricated. In the humidity range of 29%-72%, humidity-response experiments are carried out with a cycle of rising and falling humidity to investigate humidity-response characteristics. The experimental results show 2.25 nm/%RH sensitivity and a 0.9997 linear correlation coefficient, with good consistency. The changes in optical-path difference (OPD) and free spectral range (FSR) with humidity are also discussed. The humidity sensitivities of a typical sensor are 80.3 nm/%RH (OPD) and 0.03 nm/%RH (FSR). Furthermore, many humidity sensors with different Nafion-PVA sol-gel concentration and initial cavity length are experimentally investigated for humidity response. The results show that the sensitivity increases with higher Nafion ratio of the Nafion-PVA sol-gel. The influence of changing cavity length on sensitivity is not obvious. These results are helpful to research on optical-fiber humidity sensors with good performance, easy fabrication, and low cost.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61890964); Key Deployment Project of Ocean Science Research Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences (COMS2020J11); National Training Program of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Undergraduates (No. 202111025 and 202211033).

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