Electrospun Polyaniline/Poly(ethylene oxide) Composite Nanofibers Based Gas Sensor

Camphor‐10‐sulfonic acid (HCSA) doped polyaniline (PANI)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) composite nanofibers with different compositions (12 to 52 wt.% of PANI) were synthesized by an electrospinning method and their properties including optical, electrical and sensing were systematically investigated. FT‐IR shows that an increase of IR absorbance ratios of aromatic C? C stretching vibration of benzenoid rings of PANI to C? O? C symmetric vibrational modes of PEO confirmed that the PANI content in nanofiber mats increased proportionally with increase in PANI content in electrospinning solution. The band gap of PANI was determined to be 2.5 eV using UV‐Vis spectroscopy. The electrical conductivities of the nanofibers increased with an increase in the PANI content in the nanofibers. Additionally, the sensitivity toward NH₃ increased as the PANI content increased, but branched nanofibers reduced sensing response. The humidity sensitivity changed from positive to negative as the PANI content increased. The electron transport mechanism was studied by measuring the temperature dependence electrical resistivity. The negative temperature coefficient of resistance revealed a semiconducting behavior for the PANI/PEO nanofibers. The activation energy, calculated by Arrhenius plot, increased as the PANI content decreased. The power law indicated that electrons were being transported in a three dimensional matrix, and the longer hopping distance required more hopping energy for electron transport.     

A Method for Optimizing the Design of Heterogeneous Nano Gas Chemiresistor Arrays

A method for optimizing the design of heterogeneous gas chemiresistor arrays to maximize classification accuracy is presented. The features used for classification include coefficients from a Fast Fourier Transform, properties of a piecewise representation of the response shape, and features characterizing the response time. The novel response time features are designed to be insensitive to noise and sensor drift. This work introduces a novel approach for leveraging experimental data to create large synthetic datasets for training classifiers. Pairs of time‐series sensor response measurements are randomly combined with a noise model to create synthetic sensor responses, which are then combined to create synthetic array responses. J48 decision trees are used to classify species and support vector machine regression models are used to determine the concentration once the species is known. The results demonstrate the value of array optimization, as the highest classification accuracy is achieved using a subset of the available sensor designs. J48 decision trees proved to be efficient for use in optimization and achieved high accuracy. Separating the tasks of classifying species and identifying concentration also proved to be effective. The techniques were applied to the design of an array for classifying H₂, H₂S, NH₃, and NO₂. The optimal array achieved 95.7 % accuracy at classifying species and an average correlation coefficient of 0.92 for determining concentration.     

Synthesis of Platinum and Tin Oxide Co‐functionalized Single‐walled Carbon Nanotubes (Pt/SnO2/SWNTs) and their Sensing Properties toward Carbon Monoxide

Pt and SnO₂ were co‐functionalized on single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) assembled on microelectrodes by electrochemical deposition where Pt nanoparticle's morphology, size, and density were tuned by controlling the applied potential and time. The systematic study to obtain the optimum condition for Pt‐decorated SnO₂/SWNTs (Pt/SnO₂/SWNTs) were performed and also correlate with its CO sensing performance. Illumination‐dependent sensing performance was examined using red, green and UV LED as light sources at room temperature. Under UV illumination, the sensitivity of Pt/SnO₂/SWNTs was enhanced to 2.1 %/ppm_V of CO with the lower detection limit of 0.05 ppm_V.     

Bioaffinity sensing using biologically functionalized conducting-polymer nanowire

A simple, one-step method for fabricating single biologically functionalized conducting-polymer (polypyrrole) nanowire on prepatterned electrodes and its application to biosensing was demonstrated. The biologically functionalized polypyrrole was formed by the electropolymerization of an aqueous solution of pyrrole monomer and the model biomolecule, avidin- or streptavidin-conjugated ZnSe/CdSe quantum dots, within 100 or 200 nm wide by 3 mum long channels between gold electrodes on prefabricated silicon substrate. When challenged with biotin-DNA, the avidin- and streptavidin-polypyrrole nanowires generated a rapid change in resistance to as low as 1 nM, demonstrating the utility of the biomolecule-functionalized nanowire as biosensor. The method offers advantages of direct incorporation of functional biological molecules into the conducting-polymer nanowire during its synthesis, site-specific positioning, built-in electrical contacts, and scalability to high-density nanoarrays over the reported silicon nanowire and carbon nanotube biosensors.     

Magnetically Assembled Multisegmented Nanowires and Their Applications

Here we report a cost effective and versatile way of synthesizing and assembling multi‐functional (e.g., gold‐polypyrrole‐nickel‐gold) nanowires. Multisegmented nanowires were synthesized using electrodeposition method for precise control over segment dimensions for proper expression of material functionality. The nanowires were integrated on microfabricated electrodes using magnetic dipole interactions between the ferromagnetic segment in the nanowire and the ferromagnetic electrodes. The electrical properties of multisegmented nanowires showed semiconducting behavior with the activation energy of ca. 0.27 eV for the conducting polymer segment of the nanowire. These nanowire devices showed response towards light and exposure to ammonia, demonstrating their potential use as photonic device and gas sensor, respectively.     

Hybrid ZnO/SWNT Nanostructures Based Gas Sensor

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles decorated single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) were electrochemically synthesized where the deposition conditions were systematically explored to tailor the size, density, and microstructure of the ZnO nanoparticles and correlated to the gas sensing performance. Room temperature conductometric detection of various analytes including CO, CO₂, NO₂, NH₃, SO₂, H₂S with ZnO/SWNT hybrid nanostructures demonstrated uncharacteristic selectivity towards H₂S with little to no response for the other analytes examined. Optimal ZnO/SWNTs gas sensor devices showed a significantly increased in H₂S sensitivity over unfunctionalized SWNT networks (i.e. 4.96 % per ppm_V vs. 0.225 % ppm_V) with a lower detection limit in the ppb range. Additionally, the H₂S sensing performance was greatly improved by enhancing the crystallinity of ZnO nanoparticles.     

Effect of (L:D) Aspect Ratio on Single Polypyrrole Nanowire FET Device

Effect of different aspect ratio (length to diameter ratio, L:D) on single polypyrrole (Ppy) nanowire based field effect transistor (FET) sensor for real time pH monitoring was studied. Ppy nanowires with diameters of ~60, ~80 and ~200 nm were synthesized using electrochemical deposition inside anodized aluminium oxide (AAO) template and were assembled using AC dielectrophoretic alignment followed by maskless anchoring on a pair of gold electrodes separated with different gap lengths. Microfabricated gold electrode patterns with gap size between 1 - 4 μm were developed by means of MEMS technique (photolithography). Using field effect transistor geometry with pair of microfabricated gold contact electrodes serving as a source and a drain, and a platinum (Pt) mesh (anchored in a microfluidic channel) was used as a gate electrode. When effect of different aspect ratio of the nanowire were compared, higher sensitivity was recorded for higher aspect ratio. The sensitivity was further improved by modulating the gate potential. These FET sensors based on single polypyrrole nanowire exhibited excellent and tunable sensitivity towards pH variations.     

Synthesis of ultra-long hollow chalcogenide nanofibers

Electrospinning and galvanic displacement reaction are combined to fabricate ultra-long hollow chalcogen and chalcogenide nanofibers in a cost-effective and high throughput manner. This procedure exploits electrospinning to fabricate ultra-long sacrificial nanofibers with controlled dimensions and morphology, thereby imparting control over the composition and shape of the nanostructures evolved during galvanic displacement reaction. It is believed to be a general route to form various ultra-long hollow semiconducting nanofibers.