TY - JOUR
T1 - Chemical-sensitive graphene modulator with a memory effect for internet-of-things applications
AU - Huang, Haiyu
AU - Tao, Li
AU - Liu, Fei
AU - Ji, Li
AU - Hu, Ye
AU - Cheng, Mark Ming Cheng
AU - Chen, Pai Yen
AU - Akinwande, Deji
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the NSF CAREER award (D.A.), the NSF-NASCENT Engineering Research Center (Cooperative Agreement No. EEC-1160494), and the Southwest Academy of Nanoelectronics (SWAN). The authors would like to thank Dr Allen Bard, who is with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the University of Texas at Austin; Dr Utkan Demirci, who is with the School of Medicine at Stanford University; and Dr Frank S. W. Hwang at the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) for useful discussions. We also thank J. Wozniak and the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) for their assistance with the 3D illustrative rendering.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, Nature Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Modern internet of things (IoTs) and ubiquitous sensor networks could potentially take advantage of chemically sensitive nanomaterials and nanostructures. However, their heterogeneous integration with other electronic modules on a networked sensor node, such as silicon-based modulators and memories, is inherently challenging because of compatibility and integration issues. Here we report a novel paradigm for sensing modulators: a graphene field-effect transistor device that directly modulates a radio frequency (RF) electrical carrier signal when exposed to chemical agents, with a memory effect in its electrochemical history. We demonstrated the concept and implementation of this graphene-based sensing modulator through a frequency-modulation (FM) experiment conducted in a modulation cycle consisting of alternating phases of air exposure and ethanol or water treatment. In addition, we observed an analog memory effect in terms of the charge neutrality point of the graphene, Vcnp, which strongly influences the FM results, and developed a calibration method using electrochemical gate-voltage pulse sequences. This graphene-based multifunctional device shows great potential for use in a simple, low-cost, and ultracompact nanomaterial-based nodal architecture to enable continuous, real-time event-based monitoring in pervasive healthcare IoTs, ubiquitous security systems, and other chemical/molecular/gas monitoring applications.
AB - Modern internet of things (IoTs) and ubiquitous sensor networks could potentially take advantage of chemically sensitive nanomaterials and nanostructures. However, their heterogeneous integration with other electronic modules on a networked sensor node, such as silicon-based modulators and memories, is inherently challenging because of compatibility and integration issues. Here we report a novel paradigm for sensing modulators: a graphene field-effect transistor device that directly modulates a radio frequency (RF) electrical carrier signal when exposed to chemical agents, with a memory effect in its electrochemical history. We demonstrated the concept and implementation of this graphene-based sensing modulator through a frequency-modulation (FM) experiment conducted in a modulation cycle consisting of alternating phases of air exposure and ethanol or water treatment. In addition, we observed an analog memory effect in terms of the charge neutrality point of the graphene, Vcnp, which strongly influences the FM results, and developed a calibration method using electrochemical gate-voltage pulse sequences. This graphene-based multifunctional device shows great potential for use in a simple, low-cost, and ultracompact nanomaterial-based nodal architecture to enable continuous, real-time event-based monitoring in pervasive healthcare IoTs, ubiquitous security systems, and other chemical/molecular/gas monitoring applications.
KW - CVD graphene
KW - Chemical sensing microsystems
KW - Graphene field-effect sensors
KW - Internet of nano-things
KW - Microsensor networks
KW - RF and analog microdevices
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U2 - 10.1038/micronano.2016.18
DO - 10.1038/micronano.2016.18
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85021675172
SN - 2055-7434
VL - 2
JO - Microsystems and Nanoengineering
JF - Microsystems and Nanoengineering
M1 - 16018
ER -