Ultrasensitive, ultrathin vapor sensors and arrays

Abstract

Ultrasensitive, ultrathin thermodynamic sensing platforms for the detection of chemical compounds at trace levels are disclosed. Embodiments of the ultrathin sensor comprise substrate, adhesion, microheater, and catalyst layers. A sensor array may include a plurality of sensors each having a different catalyst. When a sensor array exposed to an analyte, each of the various sensors of the array may experience an endothermic reaction, an exothermic reaction, or no reaction. A comparison of the reaction results to data comprising previously-obtained reaction results may be used to determine information on the analyte. Advantageously, these ultrathin vapor sensors utilize less power and provide greater sensitivity, and may be used to detect and identify analytes at the PPT level. Specialized sensors configured to detect analytes falling into a certain category (e.g., explosives, drugs and narcotics, biomarkers, etc.) are disclosed, as well as general purpose sensors capable of detecting analytes from a plurality of categories.