High-Frequency Graphene Nanoelectronic Vapor Sensors for Micro-Gas Chromatography

ECCS提案编号1405870提案标题：高频石墨烯纳米电子微蒸气传感器气相色谱提案目标该提案的目标是从根本上研究并随后开创一种完全不同的石墨烯传感机制，该机制基于对蒸汽分子偶极矩的检测。非技术摘要化学蒸汽传感器技术对于几种应用至关重要，这些应用可以为环境保护和个性化医疗不幸的是，目前这一代的纳米电子蒸汽传感器对于实际应用来说太慢了，并且挑战本质上在于其传感机制。为了解决这一根本性的挑战，该提案的目的是开创一个偶极检测为基础的传感机制，可以提供数量级的改进速度和灵敏度相比，目前的国家的最先进的。拟议项目的成功将打开一扇门，开发大量的蒸汽传感技术，在环境保护，工业安全，生物医学和国土安全的广泛应用。此外，通过拟议的研究获得的知识和技术可以很容易地扩展到研究和检测水环境中的生物分子（如DNA和蛋白质）。更广泛地说，拟议的项目是高度跨学科的，应该在纳米材料，纳米电子学，传感技术和设备物理学领域推进科学和技术。该项目还包括一个突出的推广和教育计划，促进K-12和本科生对纳米科学和纳米技术的认识和兴趣。该项目产生的知识和研究成果将被整合到目前正在开发的一些新的纳米技术课程中，这些课程与碳纳米技术，生物医学仪器和生物/化学传感有关。该项目将通过积极招募代表性不足的学生来进一步加强，这可以显着提高科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）学科和劳动力的多样性。Technical AbstractThe拟议项目的目标是从根本上研究并随后开拓一种完全不同的石墨烯传感机制，基于检测蒸汽分子的偶极矩。与使用直流（DC）信号的现有纳米电子传感器相比，这种方法利用石墨烯晶体管作为高频混频器，表面吸收的分子用作静电门。分子偶极由交流（AC）驱动电压激发;振荡偶极进而在石墨烯晶体管上产生AC电导调制，这可以通过测量混合电流来检测。通过进入更高的频率，当AC场切换超过界面状态的缓慢动态时，可以克服常规纳米电子传感器中的缓慢感测响应，从而导致快2-3个数量级的感测速度（~0.1 s）和10倍的灵敏度（~1 pg）。具体任务包括：1）高频石墨烯纳米电子传感机理的基础研究; 2）所提出的石墨烯蒸气传感器的设计、制造、表征和优化; 3）石墨烯蒸气传感器与微型气相色谱（micro-GC）装置的片上集成。该项目将在纳米尺度上对分子在高频激发下的行为以及它们如何与石墨烯相互作用产生基本和详细的理解。此外，石墨烯蒸气传感器阵列与片上微型GC器件的集成将真正展示纳米电子传感器的优势，不仅具有高速和高灵敏度，而且具有非破坏性，并与片上制造/集成技术高度兼容。

ECCS Prop. No. 1405870Proposal Title: High-Frequency Graphene Nanoelectronic Vapor Sensors for Micro-Gas ChromatographyProposal GoalThe goal of the proposal is to fundamentally study and subsequently pioneer a radicallydifferent graphene sensing mechanism based on detection of vapor molecules diploe moments.Nontechnical AbstractChemical Vapor sensor technologies are crucial for several applications which can bring fundamental changes to environmental protection and personalized healthcare. Unfortunately, current generation of nanoelectronic vapor sensors is too slow for practical use, and the challenge lies intrinsically in its sensing mechanism. To address this fundamental challenge, the proposal aims to pioneer a dipole-detection based sensing mechanism which can offer orders of magnitude improvement in both speed and sensitivity compared to the current state-of-the-art. The success of the proposed project will open a door to developing a plethora of vapor sensing technologies with a broad range of applications in environmental protection, industry safety, biomedicine, and homeland security. In addition, the knowledge and techniques acquired through the proposed research can readily be extended to study and detect biomolecules (such as DNAs and proteins) in the aqueous environment. More broadly, the proposed project is highly interdisciplinary and should advance science and technology in areas of nanomaterials, nanoelectronics, sensing technology, and device physics. The project also includes a prominent outreach and education program, which promotes awareness of and interest in nanoscience and nanotechnology among K-12 and undergraduate students. The knowledge and research findings resulting from this project will be integrated into a number of new nanotechnology courses currently under development that are related to carbon nanotechnology, biomedical instrumentation, and biological/chemical sensing. This project will be further enhanced by proactively recruiting underrepresented students, which can significantly improve the diversity of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and workforce.Technical AbstractThe goal of the proposed project is to fundamentally study and subsequently pioneer a radically different graphene sensing mechanism based on detection of vapor molecules diploe moments. In contrast to the existing nanoelectronic sensors where the direct current (DC) signal is used, this approach utilizes the graphene transistor as a high-frequency mixer with surface-absorbed molecules functioning as an electrostatic gate. The molecular dipole is excited by alternating current (AC) driving voltage; the oscillating dipole in turn generates an AC conductance modulation on the graphene transistor, which can be detected by measuring the mixing current. By going into higher frequencies, the slow sensing response in the conventional nanoelectronic sensor can be overcome when the AC field switching outpaces the slow dynamics of interface states, thus resulting in 2-3 orders of magnitude faster sensing speed (~0.1 s) and 10-fold better sensitivity (~1 pg) than the state-of-the-art. The specific tasks include: 1) Fundamental study of high-frequency graphene nanoelectronic sensing mechanism; 2) Design, fabrication, characterization, and optimization of the proposed graphene vapor sensors; 3) On-chip integration of graphene vapor sensor with micro-gas chromatography (micro-GC) device. The project will generate fundamental and detailed understanding at the nanometer scale about how molecules behave under high-frequency excitation and how they interact with the graphene. In addition, the integration of graphene vapor sensor array with an on-chip micro-GC device will truly showcase the advantages of a nanoelectronic sensor that not only has high speed and high sensitivity, but also is non-destructive and highly compatible with on-chip fabrication/integration technologies.