【gas sensor,gas sensor suppliers, humidity sensors suppliers, infrared sensors suppliers,humidity sensors manufacturers】Graphene sensor detects nano molecules|en.ofweek.com

European researchers have developed a sensor made from graphene to detect molecules such as proteins and drugs. The sensor is reconfigurable and highly sensitive, “exploiting the unique electronic and optical properties of graphene for a practical application,” a release stated.

 

Teams from the Swiss University EPFL (école Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and the Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona used graphene to improve upon infrared absorption spectroscopy for molecule detection. Traditionally, this method uses light to excite molecules, which vibrate differently depending on their nature, and the vibration creates a unique signature that can be read in reflective light.

 

 

(Graphene's higher level of field confinement enables highly sensitive vibrational spectroscopy and refractive-index based sensing. Source: EPFL)

 

This method isn’t effective for nanometrically-sized molecules, which are often significantly smaller than the 6 micron wavelength of the infrared photon used to detect the molecule. Researchers found that graphene is able to focus the light on a specific spot to accurately “hear” the vibration of a nanometric molecule.

 

An EPFL publication stated:

 

When the light arrives, the electrons in graphene nanostructures begin to oscillate. This phenomenon, known as “localized surface plasmon resonance,” serves to concentrate light into tiny spots, which are comparable with the dimensions of the target molecules. It is then possible to detect nanometric structures.

 

Potential applications for the sensor range from detecting gas leakage, sensing toxic and explosive gas, measuring and detecting DNA and proteins as well as contaminants in water, according to the reports.

 

Graphene can be tuned to different frequencies by applying voltage — which is not possible with current sensors, the release stated. As a result, the process can also show the nature of the bonds that connect atoms in a molecule by assessing the nuances between different vibrations.

 

When graphene's electrons oscillate in different ways, it’s possible to "read" all the vibrations of the molecule on its surface. "We tested this method on proteins that we attached to the graphene. It gave us a full picture of the molecule," said Hatice Altug, an associate professor in the Bionanophotonic Systems Laboratory at EPFL.

 

Altug said the graphene-based process could also work for polymers and many other substances. The results of this study appeared in the journal Science.

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