Field Effect Transistors Based on Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons for the Detection and Classification of Volatile Organic Compounds

Abstract

We show that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) based field effect transistor (FET) arrays can serve as excellent chemical sensors for the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) under confounding humidity conditions. Using these sensors, w/o complementary pattern recognition methods, we study the ability of PAH-FET(s) to: (i) discriminate between aromatic and non-aromatic VOCs; (ii) distinguish polar and non-polar non-aromatic compounds; and to (iii) identify specific VOCs within the subgroups (i.e., aromatic compounds, polar non-aromatic compounds, non-polar non-aromatic compounds). We further study the effect of water vapor on the sensor array's discriminative ability and derive patterns that are stable when exposed to different constant values of background humidity. Patterns based on different independent electronic features from an array of PAH-FETs may bring us one step closer to creating a unique fingerprint for individual VOCs in real-world applications in atmospheres with varying levels of humidity.