Ultra-sensitive carbon based molecular sensors

Abstract

Carbon is only the fifteenth most common element, accounting for a very modest 0.048 percent of the Earth's crust, but we would be lost without it. What sets the carbon atom apart is that it is shamelessly promiscuous. It is the party animal of the atomic world, latching on to many other atoms (including itself) and holding tight, forming molecular conga lines of hearty robustness... As Paul Davies 1 has written: If it wasn't for carbon, life as we know it would be impossible." 2