Tuesday, 1 November 2005 - 1:50 PM
228e

Solving the Regeneration Problem for Carbon Nanotube Based Chemical Weapons Detectors

Chang Young Lee1, Richard I. Masel1, Keith Cadwallader2, Mark A. Shannon3, and Michael S. Strano1. (1) Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 S. Mathews, Urbana, IL 61801, (2) Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 202 Agricultural Bioprocess Lab, Urbana, IL 61801, (3) Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 158 Mechanical Engineering Building, Urbana, IL 61801

We have developed a novel method to remove irreversibly-binding gas molecules from the surface of carbon nanotube gas sensors. Our approach is based upon an analyte-specific surface reaction which decomposes adsorbed analyte molecules. Therefore, it is expected to be applicable not only to carbon nanotube gas sensors but to any type of sorption-based sensors. Extreme reactivity and instability of nerve agents makes our method to be particularly useful for the regeneration of nerve agent detectors. In our work, two kinds of irreversibly-binding nerve agent precursors have been delivered to the dielectrophoretically-deposited nanotube gas sensor array showing a fast response to a small amount of analyte gas followed by a rapid regeneration of the sensor signal. Both electrical transport measurement and Raman spectroscopy are performed to characterize the sensor array and understand the regeneration mechanism.

See more of #228 - Nanotechnology and Nanobiotechnology for Sensors II (TH005)
See more of Topical H – Biomedical Applications of Nanotechnology (Bionanotechnology)

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