Towards outperforming conventional sensor arrays with fabricated individual photonic vapour sensors inspired by Morpho butterflies.
Combining vapour sensors into arrays is an accepted compromise to mitigate poor selectivity of conventional sensors. Here we show individual nanofabricated sensors that not only selectively detect separate vapours in pristine conditions but also quantify these vapours in mixtures, and when blended with a variable moisture background. Our sensor design is inspired by the iridescent nanostructure and gradient surface chemistry of Morpho butterflies and involves physical and chemical design criteria. The physical design involves optical interference and diffraction on the fabricated periodic nanostructures and uses optical loss in the nanostructure to enhance the spectral diversity of reflectance. The chemical design uses spatially controlled nanostructure functionalization. Thus, while quantitation of analytes in the presence of variable backgrounds is challenging for most sensor arrays, we achieve this goal using individual multivariable sensors. These colorimetric sensors can be tuned for numerous vapour sensing scenarios in confined areas or as individual nodes for distributed monitoring.
General Electric Global Research Center, Niskayuna, New York 12309, USA.
Radislav A
RA
Potyrailo
College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, State University of New York, Albany, New York 12203, USA.
Ravi K
RK
Bonam
College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, State University of New York, Albany, New York 12203, USA.
John G
JG
Hartley
School of Physics, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QL, UK.
Timothy A
TA
Starkey
School of Physics, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QL, UK.
Peter
P
Vukusic
Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433, USA.|Department of Bioengineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA.
Milana
M
Vasudev
Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433, USA.
Timothy
T
Bunning
Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433, USA.
Rajesh R
RR
Naik
General Electric Global Research Center, Niskayuna, New York 12309, USA.
Zhexiong
Z
Tang
General Electric Global Research Center, Niskayuna, New York 12309, USA.
Manuel A
MA
Palacios
General Electric Global Research Center, Niskayuna, New York 12309, USA.
Michael
M
Larsen
General Electric Global Research Center, Niskayuna, New York 12309, USA.
Laurie A
LA
Le Tarte
General Electric Global Research Center, Niskayuna, New York 12309, USA.
James C
JC
Grande
General Electric Global Research Center, Niskayuna, New York 12309, USA.
Sheng
S
Zhong
General Electric Global Research Center, Niskayuna, New York 12309, USA.|State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, People's Republic of China.
Tao
T
Deng