Carbon nanotube based aliphatic hydrocarbon sensor

A hybrid multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) based chemical sensor was designed and developed by integration of microfabrication techniques with nano-assembly. This integrated sensing mechanism on a chip, comprised of thiol functionalized MWCNTs that functioned as transducers which were integrated with micro-electrode array measurement sites. The detection of the four fundamental hydrocarbons belonging to the aliphatic hydrocarbon family--methanol, ethanol, propanol and butanol was experimentally demonstrated. High degree of selectivity was demonstrated by repeated robust identification of individual hydro carbons belonging to the same family. The sensor demonstrated 1 ppm detection sensitivity. The detection mechanism was based on nano-scale transduction of the detection of the localized binding event between the functional binding sites and the chemical species of interest. Specific electrical signatures for each of these chemicals were identified using multiple levels of data analysis comprising of Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) and Power Spectral Density (PSD). The sensor demonstrated a rapid response time with portability, accuracy and versatility for the in situ detection of multiple chemical agents, with potential for automation.