Technology update
Jul 31, 2006
Organic transistors act as sensors
Researchers in the US have developed a new type of organic molecular transistor that can sense and respond to its chemical environment. The device, made by Colin Nuckolls at Columbia University and colleagues at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, consists of hydrocarbon molecules lying in the gap created when a single-walled carbon nanotube is cut in half. Since the electrical conductivity of the hydrocarbons changes signifcantly when the device is exposed to other molecules, the transistors can work as ultrasensitive chemical detectors (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.).
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