Accession Number:

ADA574082

Title:

Chemical Detection with a Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Capacitor

Descriptive Note:

Journal article

Corporate Author:

NAVAL RESEARCH LAB WASHINGTON DC

Personal Author(s):

• Snow, E. S.
• Perkins, F. K.
• Houser, E. J.
• Badescu, S. C.
• Reinecke, T. L.

Report Date:

2005-03-25

Pagination or Media Count:

5.0

Abstract:

We show that the capacitance of single-walled carbon nanotubes SWNTs is highly sensitive to a broad class of chemical vapors and that this transduction mechanism can form the basis for a fast, low-power sorption-based chemical sensor. In the presence of a dilute chemical vapor, molecular adsorbates are polarized by the fringing electric fields radiating from the surface of a SWNT electrode, which causes an increase in its capacitance. We use this effect to construct a high-performance chemical sensor by thinly coating the SWNTs with chemoselective materials that provide a large, class-specific gain to the capacitance response. Such SWNT chemicapacitors are fast, highly sensitive, and completely reversible.

Descriptors:

• *CARBON NANOTUBES
• CAPACITORS
• CHEMICAL DETECTION
• LOW POWER
• REPRINTS

Subject Categories:

• Refractory Fibers

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE