Sensitive Detection of Elemental Mercury Vapor by Gold-Nanoparticle-Decorated Carbon Nanotube Sensors

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Thomas P. McNicholas ; Kang Zhao ; Changheng Yang ; Sandra C. Hernandez ; Ashok Mulchandani ; Nosang V. Myung ; Marc A. Deshusses
• 刊名：Journal of Physical Chemistry C
• 出版年：2011
• 出版时间：July 21, 2011
• 年：2011
• 卷：115
• 期：28
• 页码：13927-13931
• 全文大小：831K
• 年卷期：v.115,no.28(July 21, 2011)
• ISSN：1932-7455

文摘

Low-cost, low-power consumption gas sensors that can detect or quantify various gas analytes are of increasing interest for various applications ranging from mobile health to environmental exposure assessment and homeland security. In particular, miniature gas sensors based on nanomaterials that can be manufactured in the form of sensor arrays present great potential for the development of portable monitoring devices. In this study, we demonstrate that a chemiresistive nanosensor comprised of single-walled carbon nanotubes decorated with gold nanoparticles has impressive sensitivity to elemental mercury (Hg) gas concentrations, with a lower detection limit as low as 2 ppb_v. Furthermore, this nanosensor was found to self-regenerate, though slowly, without any external inputs. Finally, the mercury vapor sensing mechanism allowed for direct investigations into the origin of surface-enhanced Raman scattering in carbon nanotubes decorated with Au nanoparticles.