title: Oligomer-coated carbon nanotube chemiresistive sensors for selective detection of nitroaromatic explosives.
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.
authors.affiliation: †Nano Institute of Utah and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, United States.
authors.forename: Yaqiong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: †Nano Institute of Utah and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, United States.
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: †Nano Institute of Utah and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, United States.
authors.forename: Benjamin R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Bunes
authors.affiliation: †Nano Institute of Utah and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, United States.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Chemistry, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
authors.forename: Dustin E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Gross
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Chemistry, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: †Nano Institute of Utah and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, United States.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zang
keywords: carbazole oligomer; carbon nanotube; chemiresistive vapor sensor; differential sensing; nitroaromatic explosive; thin film