US breakthrough paves way for graphene sensor applications

The sensors, made of an insulating base coated with a graphene sheet -a single-atom-thick layer of carbon - are already claimed to be so sensitive that they can detect an individual molecule of gas.

However, manipulating the chemical properties of the insulating layer, without altering the graphene layer, may yet improve their ability to detect the most minute concentrations of various gases.

The finding will open up entirely new possibilities for modulation and control of the chemical sensitivity of these sensors, without compromising the intrinsic electrical and structural properties of graphene, said Amin Salehi-Khojin, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and principal investigator on the study.

He and his colleagues at the UIC College of Engineering collaborated with researchers from the Beckman Institute and the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and two institutions in Korea. Their findings are reported in the journal Nano Letter, available online in advance of publication.