title: Rapid Growth of Zinc Oxide Nanotube-Nanowire Hybrid Architectures and Their Use in Breast Cancer-Related Volatile Organics Detection.
abstract: A simple direct method for the rapid fabrication of zinc oxide nanotube-nanowire hybrid structure in an environmentally friendly way is described here. Zinc foils were anodized in an aqueous solution of washing soda and baking soda at room temperature in order to obtain the hybrid architecture. At the beginning of the process nanowires were formed on the substrate. The wider nanowires transformed into nanotubes in about a minute and grew in length with time. The morphological integrity was maintained upon heat treatment at temperatures up to the melting point of the substrate (∼400 °C) except that the nanotube wall became porous. The chemiresistor devices fabricated using the heat-treated structure exhibited high response to low-concentration volatile organic compounds that are considered markers for breast cancer. The response was not significantly affected by high humidity or presence of hydrogen, methane, or carbon dioxide. The devices are expected to find use as breath sensors for noninvasive early detection of breast cancer.
authors.forename: Giwan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Katwal
authors.forename: Maggie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paulose
authors.forename: Irene A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Rusakova
authors.affiliation: Jacobs Technology, Structural Engineering, NASA Johnson Space Center , Houston, Texas 77058, United States.
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.forename: Oomman K
authors.initials: OK
authors.lastname: Varghese
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001944:Breath Tests / Q000295:instrumentation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006813:Humidity; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry*; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013499:Surface Properties; D013816:Thermodynamics; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis*; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds; D015034:Zinc Oxide
keywords: Zinc oxide; anodization; breast cancer; breath sensor; nanotube; volatile organic compound