Nanoporous carbon films for gas microsensors

We study nanoporous carbon (NPC) as an adsorbent coating on surface acoustic wave (SAW) chemical microsensors for a wide range of analyte gases. By use of pulsed-laser deposition in a controlled inert gas ambient, NPC grows at room temperature with negligible residual stress and, hence, can coat most surfaces to any desired thickness. Acetone adsorption isotherms for NPC-coated SAW devices with mass density ranging from 0.18 to 1.08 g/cm3 indicate that the device frequency response relates to NPC density. Data analysis suggests the possibility of detecting acetone below parts-per-billion concentrations. We find NPC to be highly sensitive to a variety of other volatile organic and toxic industrial compounds. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that lower-density NPC has both larger and greater numbers of nanopores than higher-density NPC and that decreasing NPC density also increases the interplanar spacing between graphene sheet fragments within the ultrathin carbon wall structures. These physical differences effectively increase the available surface area for analyte gas adsorption with decreasing NPC density, with only the structural integrity of the internal NPC wall structures a limiting factor in determining the lowest useful density NPC coating.