Detection of nitrous oxide using infrared optical plasmonics coupled with carbon nanotubes

Allsop, Thomas; Al Araimi, Mohammed; Neal, Ron; Wang, Changle; Culverhouse, Phil; Ania-Castañón, Juan D.; Webb, David J.; Davey, Paul; Gilbert, James M.; Rozhin, Alex

Abstract

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2020. Interest in gas sensing using functionalised carbon nanotubes is a major area of research that utilises changes in their electrical properties induced by the reaction with a specific gas. This paper describes specific gas sensing on an optical platform consisting of a 2-dimensional nano-structured plasmonic array of nano-antennae/nanowires, with topological dimensions of mean radius of 130 nm, typical length of 20 μm and a period of 500 nm. The array is created by the spatial compaction of germanium oxides when the material interacts with ultra-violet irradiance, it can support infra-red localised surface plasmons. Carbon nanotubes are deposited upon the surface of the plasmonic platform followed by the application of the polyethyleneimine polymer. The resulting nanomaterials-photonic platform gives rise to the selective response to nitrous oxide gases, which are a major contributor to atmospheric degradation. We achieve the device sensitivity up to 100% atmosphere of nitrous oxide with a detection limit of 109 ppm, a maxiumum response time of nineteen seconds and yielding a full-scale deflection of +5.7 nm. This work demonstrates that the optical properties of specific carbon nanotubes can be used in a wide range of sensing applications offering a new sensing paradigm.

Citation

Allsop, T., Al Araimi, M., Neal, R., Wang, C., Culverhouse, P., Ania-Castañón, J. D., …Rozhin, A. (2020). Detection of nitrous oxide using infrared optical plasmonics coupled with carbon nanotubes. Nanoscale advances, 2(10), 4615-4626. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0na00525h

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 12, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Sep 16, 2020
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Apr 1, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 4, 2022
• Journal: Nanoscale Advances
• Electronic ISSN: 2516-0230
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 4615-4626
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d0na00525h
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3647634