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Dry Oxidation and Vacuum Annealing Treatments for Tuning the Wetting Properties of Carbon Nanotube Arrays
Published on: April 15, 2013
Decorated carbon nanotubes with unique oxygen sensitivity.
Douglas R Kauffman1, Chad M Shade, Hyounsoo Uh
1Department of Chemistry, The University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA.
Nature Chemistry
|March 8, 2011
Summary
Single-walled carbon nanotube networks with a europium dendrimer show dual optical and electrical sensitivity to oxygen. This discovery advances the development of portable chemical sensors.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Chemical Sensing
Background:
- Carbon nanotube (CNT) based devices offer robust architectures for chemical analysis.
- Environmental sensitivity of CNTs makes them suitable for portable sensing platforms.
- Europium (Eu(3+)) complexes can exhibit luminescence properties sensitive to their environment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To understand the solid-state oxygen sensitivity mechanism of a Eu(3+)-containing dendrimer complex on single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) networks.
- To explore the bimodal sensing capabilities (optical and electrical) of this composite material.
- To demonstrate a potential application in oxygen gas detection.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of SWNT networks decorated with a Eu(3+)-dendrimer complex.
- Optical spectroscopic analysis (steady-state and time-resolved).
- Solid-state electrical transport measurements.
- Excited-state luminescence lifetime analysis.
Main Results:
- The SWNT-dendrimer system exhibited bimodal sensitivity to oxygen gas upon 365 nm light illumination.
- Both optical spectroscopic and electrical conductance properties were affected by oxygen.
- A reversible and linear electrical response to oxygen concentrations between 5-27% was observed.
- Mechanistic insights into the oxygen sensitivity were gained through spectroscopic and transport measurements.
Conclusions:
- The Eu(3+)-dendrimer decorated SWNT network demonstrates a unique solid-state oxygen sensitivity.
- The bimodal sensing mechanism is linked to interactions between oxygen, the dendrimer, and the SWNTs.
- This system shows promise for developing ultraportable or wearable chemical sensors for oxygen detection.
