Semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (s-SWCNTs) with lower absorption energy of NO2 gas exhibited higher sensitivity than metallic SWCNTs. The result originated from quantum capacitance of s-SWCNTs, which was readily affected by charge transfer, whereas that of m-SWCNTs showed no change with even more transferred charges. However, m-SWCNT that were aligned polarize adsorbed gases on the surface by a local field that contributed the capacitance changes of m-SWCNT networks. This is a newly introduced detection mechanism of gas sensing using m-SWCNTs. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.