Enhanced Sensitivity of Gas Sensor Based on Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Thin-Film Transistors for Disease Diagnosis and Environment Monitoring

Sensors

Marco R. Cavallari³  José E. E. Izquierdo³  Guilherme S. Braga³  Ely A. T. Dirani³  Marcelo A. Pereira-da-Silva¹  Estrella F. G. Rodríguez²  Fernando J. Fonseca³ 

[1] Instituto de Física de São Carlos–USP, Av. Trabalhador Sãocarlense 400, CEP 13566-590 São Carlos-SP, Brasil; E-Mail:;Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría (ISPJAE), Centro de Investigaciones de Microelectrónica (CIME), Antigua Carretera de Vento, km 8 1/2, Boyeros, CP 10800 La Habana, Cuba; E-Mail:;Departamento de Engenharia de Sistemas Eletrônicos, Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo (EPUSP), Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, trav. 3, n. 158, Cidade Universitária, CEP 05508-900, São Paulo-SP, Brasil; E-Mails:

关键词: organic thin-film transistors;    gas sensors;    P3HT;    volatile organic compounds;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s150409592

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Electronic devices based on organic thin-film transistors (OTFT) have the potential to supply the demand for portable and low-cost gadgets, mainly as sensors for in situ disease diagnosis and environment monitoring. For that reason, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as the active layer in the widely-used bottom-gate/bottom-contact OTFT structure was deposited over highly-doped silicon substrates covered with thermally-grown oxide to detect vapor-phase compounds. A ten-fold organochloride and ammonia sensitivity compared to bare sensors corroborated the application of this semiconducting polymer in sensors. Furthermore, P3HT TFTs presented approximately three-order higher normalized sensitivity than any chemical sensor addressed herein. The results demonstrate that while TFTs respond linearly at the lowest concentration values herein, chemical sensors present such an operating regime mostly above 2000 ppm. Simultaneous alteration of charge carrier mobility and threshold voltage is responsible for pushing the detection limit down to units of ppm of ammonia, as well as tens of ppm of alcohol or ketones. Nevertheless, P3HT transistors and chemical sensors could compose an electronic nose operated at room temperature for a wide range concentration evaluation (1–10,000 ppm) of gaseous analytes. Targeted analytes include not only biomarkers for diseases, such as uremia, cirrhosis, lung cancer and diabetes, but also gases for environment monitoring in food, cosmetic and microelectronics industries.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.