Oleylamine-Functionalized Graphene Oxide in Wearable Flexible Organic Field-Effect Transistors for Ultrasensitive NH₃...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) show promise for wearable gas sensing due to flexibility and signal amplification.
• Achieving both high sensing performance and mechanical robustness in flexible sensors is a critical challenge for practical applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a flexible, robust, and highly sensitive gas sensor for detecting ammonia (NH3) in exhaled breath for potential use in diagnosing early-stage kidney diseases.

Main Methods:

• Incorporated styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene elastomer to improve semiconductor layer strain stability.
• Utilized oleylamine-functionalized graphene oxide as the gas-sensing material for enhanced NH3 response.
• Fabricated a wearable organic field-effect transistor (OFET) based gas sensor.

Main Results:

• The flexible sensor demonstrated excellent sensitivity (67% ppm-1) and selectivity for NH3.
• Achieved a low theoretical limit of detection of 9.19 ppb for NH3.
• The sensor maintained high strain stability and sensing performance even after tensile deformation, suitable for skin attachment.

Conclusions:

• The developed OFET-based gas sensor offers robust detection capabilities and comfortable wearable features.
• This technology shows significant promise for the auxiliary diagnosis of early-stage kidney diseases through exhaled breath analysis.