Metal-organic polyhedra-coated Si nanowires for the sensitive detection of trace explosives

Anping Cao, W Zhu, Jin Shang, Johan Klootwijk, Ernst Sudholter, J Huskens, Louis de Smet

    Research output: Contribution to journalLetterScientificpeer-review

    40 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Surface-modified silicon nanowire-based field-effect transistors
    (SiNW-FETs) have proven to be a promising platform for molecular
    recognition in miniature sensors. In this work, we present a novel nanoFET
    device for the sensitive and selective detection of explosives based on affinity
    layers of metal−organic polyhedra (MOPs). The judicious selection of the
    geometric and electronic characteristics of the assembly units (organic ligands
    and unsaturated metal site) embedded within the MOP cage allowed for the
    formation of multiple charge-transfer (CT) interactions to facilitate the selective
    explosive inclusion. Meanwhile, the host-stabilized CT complex inside the cage
    acted as an effective molecular gating element to strongly modulate the electrical conductance of the silicon nanowires. By grafting the MOP cages onto a SiNWFET device, the resulting sensor showed a good electrical sensing capability to various explosives, especially 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), with a detection limit below the nanomolar level. Importantly, coupling MOPswhich have tunable structures and propertiesto SiNW-based devices may open up new avenues for a wide range of sensing applications, addressing
    various target analytes.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1-7
    Number of pages7
    JournalNano Letters: a journal dedicated to nanoscience and nanotechnology
    Volume17
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Keywords

    • charge-transfer interaction
    • explosives detection
    • metal−organic polyhedra
    • molecular recognition
    • Silicon nanowire-based field-effect transistor

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