Effects of Tungsten Disulphide Coating on Tapered Microfiber for Relative Humidity Sensing Applications

Tungsten disulphide (WS₂) is a two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenide material that can be used to improve the sensitivity of a variety of sensing applications. This study investigated the effect of WS₂ coating on tapered region microfiber (MF) for relative humidity (RH) sensing applications. The flame brushing technique was used to taper the standard single-mode fiber (SMF) into three different waist diameter sizes of MF 2, 5, and 10 µm, respectively. The MFs were then coated with WS₂ via a facile deposition method called the drop-casting technique. Since the MF had a strong evanescent field that allowed fast near-field interaction between the guided light and the environment, depositing WS₂ onto the tapered region produced high humidity sensor sensitivity. The experiments were repeated three times to measure the average transmitted power, presenting repeatability and sensing stability. Each MF sample size was tested with varying humidity levels. Furthermore, the coated and non-coated MF performances were compared in the RH range of 45-90% RH at room temperature. It was found that the WS₂ coating on 2 µm MF had a high sensitivity of 0.0861 dB/% RH with linearity over 99%. Thus, MF coated with WS₂ encourages enhancement in the evanescent field effect in optical fiber humidity sensor applications.