Carbon monoxide (CO) outcompetes oxygen when binding to the iron center of hemeproteins, leading to a reduction in blood oxygen level and acute poisoning. Harvesting this strong and specific interaction between the CO and heme-inspired iron porphyrin provides promises for highly selective and customizable sensors that are viable alternatives to technologies based on mass spectroscopy and optical detection systems. In this presentation, we report the development of CNT-based sensors for the detection of CO with voltage-modulated sensitivity comprising iron porphyrin and functionalized single-walled CNTs, Figure 1. Modulation of the gate voltage led to that the in situ reduction of Fe3+ to Fe2+ enhances the interaction between the decorated CNTs and CO, leading to the significant increase in the signal strength when negative gate voltage is applied. UV-Vis, differential pulse voltammetry, and computational studies confirmed our sensing data. Furthermore, the sensors are selective to ppm levels of CO and functional in air. Our results provide a step toward the development of a novel platform of voltage-activated sensors based on highly specific chemical interactions.

CNT-based carbon monoxide sensors with voltage-modulated sensitivity

256th National Meeting (2018)

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