Meniscus-Controlled Water-Based Assembly of Sphere Particles for Chemical Vapor Detection

Abstract

Conductivity-based sphere sensors for chemical sensing were fabricated using a bottom-up approach. The capillary force at the meniscus was used to precisely position poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) nanoshell sphere sensors at the predefined locations of a cross-point array structure for electrical contact and analyze detection. The combination of bottom-up assembly and top-down structure not only provides a method to fabricate an ultrahigh density sensor array with an extreme redundancy for the high sensitivity, but also offers the intriguing potential to assemble various types of sensor element at precisely controlled locations for an electronic nose system.