Chemical Sensing with Atomically Thin Platinum Templated by a 2D Insulator. Issue 12 (27th April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kim, Kyung Ho; He, Hans; Rodner, Marius; Yakimova, Rositsa; Larsson, Karin; Piantek, Marten; Serrate, David; Zakharov, Alexei; Kubatkin, Sergey; Eriksson, Jens; Lara‐Avila, Samuel
• Is Part Of: Advanced materials interfaces. Volume 7:Issue 12(2020)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2020-04-27
• Subjects: atomically thin materials -- buffer layer -- chemical sensors -- nanomaterials; Materials science -- Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1002/admi.201902104
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2196-7350

Abstract

Abstract: Boosting the sensitivity of solid‐state gas sensors by incorporating nanostructured materials as the active sensing element can be complicated by interfacial effects. Interfaces at nanoparticles, grains, or contacts may result in nonlinear current–voltage response, high electrical resistance, and ultimately, electric noise that limits the sensor read‐out. This work reports the possibility to prepare nominally one atom thin, electrically continuous platinum layers by physical vapor deposition on the carbon zero layer (also known as the buffer layer) grown epitaxially on silicon carbide. With a 3–4 Å thin Pt layer, the electrical conductivity of the metal is strongly modulated when interacting with chemical analytes, due to charges being transferred to/from Pt. The strong interaction with chemical species, together with the scalability of the material, enables the fabrication of chemiresistor devices for electrical read‐out of chemical species with sub part‐per‐billion (ppb) detection limits. The 2D system formed by atomically thin Pt on the carbon zero layer on SiC opens up a route for resilient and high sensitivity chemical detection, and can be the path for designing new heterogenous catalysts with superior activity and selectivity. Abstract : The carbon zero‐layer grown on the surface of silicon carbide enables the possibility to prepare one atom‐thin platinum layers which are electrically continuous over large areas. The electrical conductivity of such atomically thin Pt is strongly modulated when interacting with chemical analytes, and this allows the detection of chemical species with sub part‐per‐billion detection limits through read‐out of the Pt resistance.