Effect of plasma treatment on the gas sensor with single-walled carbon nanotube paste.

The effect of plasma treatment on the gas sensing properties of screen-printed single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) pastes is reported. The gas sensors, using SWCNT pastes as a sensing material, were fabricated by photolithography and screen printing. The SWCNT pastes were deposited between interdigitated electrodes on heater membrane by screen printing. In order to functionalize the pastes, they were plasma treated using several gases which produce defects caused by reactive ion etching. The Ar and O(2) plasma-treated SWCNT pastes exhibited a large response to NO(2) exposure and the fluorinated gas, such as CF(4) and SF(6), plasma-treated SWCNT pastes exhibited a large response to NH(3) exposure.

Sensing properties of polyethylenimine coated carbon nanotubes in oxidized oil.

Chemical detection is still a continuous challenge when it comes to designing single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) sensors with high selectivity, especially in complex chemical environments. A perfect example of such an environment would be in thermally oxidized soybean oil. At elevated temperatures, oil oxidizes through a series of chemical reactions that results in the formation of monoacylglycerols, diacylglycerols, oxidized triacylglycerols, dimers, trimers, polymers, free fatty acids, ketones, aldehydes, alcohols, esters, and other minor products. In order to detect the rancidity of oxidized soybean oil, carbon nanotube chemiresistor sensors have been coated with polyethylenimine (PEI) to enhance the sensitivity and selectivity. PEI functionalized SWCNTs are known to have a high selectivity towards strong electron withdrawing molecules. The sensors were very responsive to different oil oxidation levels and furthermore, displayed a rapid recovery of more than 90% in ambient air without the need of heating or UV exposure.

Investigation on fabrication of nanoscale patterns using laser interference lithography.

Nanoscale patterns are fabricated by laser interference lithography (LIL) using Lloyd's mirror interferometer. LIL provides a patterning technology with simple, quick process over a large area without the usage of a mask. Effects of various key parameters for LIL, with 257 nm wavelength laser, are investigated, such as the exposure dosage, the half angle of two incident beams at the intersection, and the power of the light source for generating one or two dimensional (line and dot) nanoscale structures. The uniform dot patterns over an area of 20 mm x 20 mm with the half pitch sizes of around 190, 250, and 370 nm are achieved and by increasing the beam power up to 0.600 mW/cm2, the exposure process time was reduced down to 12/12 sec for the positive photoresist DHK-BF424 (DongJin) over a bare silicon substrate. In addition, bottom anti-reflective coating (DUV-30J, Brewer Science) is applied to confirm improvements for line structures. The advantages and limitations of LIL are highlighted for generating nanoscale patterns.