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Nano Lett

Title:		Volatile organic compound detection using nanostructured copolymers
Author(s):		Li B; Sauve G; Iovu MC; Jeffries-El M; Zhang R; Cooper J; Santhanam S; Schultz L; Revelli JC; Kusne AG; Kowalewski T; Snyder JL; Weiss LE; Fedder GK; McCullough RD; Lambeth DN;
Address:		"Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Chemistry Department, Robotics Institute, and Chemical Engineering Department, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA"
Journal Title:		Nano Lett
Year:		2006
Volume:		6
Issue:		8
Page Number:		1598 - 1602
DOI:		10.1021/nl060498o
ISSN/ISBN:		1530-6984 (Print) 1530-6984 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Regioregular polythiophene-based conductive copolymers with highly crystalline nanostructures are shown to hold considerable promise as the active layer in volatile organic compound (VOC) chemresistor sensors. While the regioregular polythiophene polymer chain provides a charge conduction path, its chemical sensing selectivity and sensitivity can be altered either by incorporating a second polymer to form a block copolymer or by making a random copolymer of polythiophene with different alkyl side chains. The copolymers were exposed to a variety of VOC vapors, and the electrical conductivity of these copolymers increased or decreased depending upon the polymer composition and the specific analytes. Measurements were made at room temperature, and the responses were found to be fast and appeared to be completely reversible. Using various copolymers of polythiophene in a sensor array can provide much better discrimination to various analytes than existing solid state sensors. Our data strongly indicate that several sensing mechanisms are at play simultaneously, and we briefly discuss some of them"
Keywords:		Electrochemistry/*instrumentation/methods Equipment Design Equipment Failure Analysis Gases/*analysis *Microelectrodes Nanostructures/*chemistry Nanotechnology/*instrumentation/methods Organic Chemicals/*analysis Polymers/analysis/*chemistry Thiophenes/an;
Notes:		"MedlineLi, Bo Sauve, Genevieve Iovu, Mihaela C Jeffries-El, Malika Zhang, Rui Cooper, Jessica Santhanam, Suresh Schultz, Lawrence Revelli, Joseph C Kusne, Aaron G Kowalewski, Tomasz Snyder, Jay L Weiss, Lee E Fedder, Gary K McCullough, Richard D Lambeth, David N eng 200-2002-00528/PHS HHS/ Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. 2006/08/10 Nano Lett. 2006 Aug; 6(8):1598-602. doi: 10.1021/nl060498o"