Work

Carbon Nanotube Formic Acid Sensors Using a Nickel Bis(ortho-diiminosemiquinonate) Selector

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: Formic acid is corrosive, and a sensitive and selective sensor could be useful in industrial, medical, and environmental settings. We present a chemiresistor for detection of formic acid composed of single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and nickel bis( ortho-diiminosemiquinonate) (1), a planar metal complex that can act as a ditopic hydrogen-bonding selector. Formic acid is detected in concentrations as low as 83 ppb. The resistance of the material decreases on exposure to formic acid, but slightly increases on exposure to acetic acid. We propose that 1 assists in partial protonation of the CNT by formic acid, but the response toward acetic acid is dominated by inter-CNT swelling. This technology establishes CNT-based chemiresistive discrimination between formic and acetic acid vapors.

Source: ACS Sensors

DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.8b00026

Authors: Sibo Lin, Timothy M. Swager

Institutions: Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Gas Sensing Nanomaterials and Sensors

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Army Research Office

Award: Hybrid organometallic_carbon nanotube films for enhanced chemiresistive sensors