Viral-templated nanocrystalline Pd nanowires for chemiresistive hydrogen (H₂) sensors

Abstract

A palladium (Pd) nanowire-based hydrogen (H 2 ) sensor has been fabricated with a novel viral-templated assembly route. A filamentous M13 bacteriophage was used as the viral-template for assembly of Pd nanowires at ambient conditions. Scanning electron microscopy determined Pd nanowire distribution and morphology with the devices. The phage template concentration controlled the number of physical and electrical nanowire connections across the device. A greater phage concentration resulted in a higher connection density and thicker Pd deposition. A lower phage concentration generated devices which formed chain-like nanowires of Pd nanocrystals, whereas a higher phage concentration formed devices with a continuous mesh-like structure. The lower concentration devices showed 51-78% instantaneous response to 2000 ppm H 2 and response time less than 30 s.

Bio-inspired synthesis of metal nanomaterials and applications

“…acetone and methanol). 163 Recently, Moon et al 342 showed highly sensitive H 2 sensors based on Pd NWs through straightforward templated assembly by the M13 bacteriophage. Furthermore, Moon et al 343 demonstrated a facile, site-specific virus-templated assembly method for the fabrication of sensitive hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) gas sensors at room temperature.…”

Bottom-Up Synthesis and Sensor Applications of Biomimetic Nanostructures

“…In addition, the M13 bacteriophage is readily amenable to tailoring of its surface for molecular recognition using phage display, and therefore it is possible to find broad applications in clinical diagnostics with the introduced biosensor. Recently, Moon and co-workers further demonstrated that M13 bacteriophage can be used to organize gold and palladium NPs into linear arrays, which can be used as seeds for creating metallic nanowires by electroless deposition [ 183 , 184 ]. The fabricated electrical sensors show potential applications for sensing H 2 and H 2 S.…”