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Holey graphene conjugated with a custom receptor molecule creates a nano-scale sensor for various applications.
About
Manufacturing and maintenance of industrial and medical sensors can be costly. We present a platform for producing cheap, low-power, passive carbon nanomaterial sensors that can be easily integrated into portable devices. This versatile platform has the capacity to detect and quantify myriad chemical substances. Carbon nanomaterials are ideal sensor transducers due to their large charge-carrier concentration, high surface area, and single-atom thickness, all of which promote sensitivity to molecular interactions that occur near the material’s surface. The nanomaterial is composed of holey reduced graphene oxide, which can be decorated with different receptors that confer selectivity depending on the desired application (e.g., H, O2, or H2S gas detection). Unlike most commercially-available sensors – which require energy-intensive heating elements or sophisticated lab equipment – our platform can be implemented as simple electronic components that change their resistivity based on chemical interactions.
Key Benefits
• Low power • Room temperature operation • Solid-state device • Low cost • High sensitivity • CMOS compatible • Small size (2x2 mm)
Applications
• Gas leak detectors • Environmental and occupational safety monitoring • Auto manufacturing • Breathalyzers • Chemical spill kits