Dual-Gated Transistor Platform for On-Site Detection of Lead Ions at Trace Levels

Shishir Venkatesh, Tan Li, Xiang Sheng Wang, Chi Chung Yeung, Ke Pei, Qi Jun Sun, Wei Wu, Robert K.Y. Li, Michael H.W. Lam, Paddy K.L. Chan, Jonathan J. Wylie, Vellaisamy A.L. Roy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

On-site monitoring of heavy metals in drinking water has become crucial because of several high profile instances of contamination. Presently, reliable techniques for trace level heavy metal detection are mostly laboratory based, while the detection limits of contemporary field-based methods are barely meeting the exposure limits set by regulatory bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO). Here, we show an on-site deployable, Pb2+ sensor on a dual-gated transistor platform whose lower detection limit is 2 orders of magnitude better than the traditional sensor and 1 order of magnitude lower than the exposure limit set by WHO. The enhanced sensitivity of our design is verified by numerically solving PNP (Planck-Nernst-Poisson) model. We demonstrate that the enhanced sensitivity is due to the suppression of ionic flux. The simplicity and the robustness of the design make it applicable for on-site screening, thereby facilitating rapid response to contamination events.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)7399-7405
Number of pages7
JournalAnalytical Chemistry
Volume90
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Jun 2018
Externally publishedYes

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