Oligomer-coated carbon nanotube chemiresistive sensors for selective detection of nitroaromatic explosives

Yaqiong Zhang; Miao Xu; Benjamin R Bunes; Na Wu; Dustin E Gross; Jeffrey S Moore; Ling Zang

doi:10.1021/acsami.5b01532

Oligomer-coated carbon nanotube chemiresistive sensors for selective detection of nitroaromatic explosives

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2015 Apr 15;7(14):7471-5. doi: 10.1021/acsami.5b01532. Epub 2015 Apr 1.

Authors

Yaqiong Zhang¹, Miao Xu¹, Benjamin R Bunes¹, Na Wu¹, Dustin E Gross², Jeffrey S Moore², Ling Zang¹

Affiliations

¹ †Nano Institute of Utah and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, United States.
² ‡Department of Chemistry, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.

PMID: 25823968
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b01532

Abstract

High-performance chemiresistive sensors were made using a porous thin film of single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coated with a carbazolylethynylene (Tg-Car) oligomer for trace vapor detection of nitroaromatic explosives. The sensors detect low concentrations of 4-nitrotoluene (NT), 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), and 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) vapors at ppb to ppt levels. The sensors also show high selectivity to NT from other common organic reagents at significantly higher vapor concentrations. Furthermore, by using Tg-Car/CNT sensors and uncoated CNT sensors in parallel, differential sensing of NT, TNT, and DNT vapors was achieved. This work provides a methodology to create selective CNT-based sensors and sensor arrays.

Keywords: carbazole oligomer; carbon nanotube; chemiresistive vapor sensor; differential sensing; nitroaromatic explosive; thin film.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.