Programmable integration of heterogeneous nanomaterial arrays onto arbitrary substrates with applications in gas sensing

Nanostructured materials have been shown to have exceptional properties and potential in many fields including energy storage, sensing, electronics, and medicine. Furthermore, this potential can be enhanced by using a heterogeneous array of nanomaterial in conjunction with one another in a single device. However, the commercial adoption of such devices has been prevented by the lack of a manufacturing paradigm to pattern nanomaterials and integrate them into macroscale objects. Presented in this work are three developments that demonstrate the ability to manipulate a range of nanoscale materials into handheld devices. These are based around a nano-integration scheme empowered by dielectrophoresis. The integration of nanomaterials into conventionally fabricated substrates is presented in the framework of gas sensing as the target application (although other applications are readily possible). The first contribution is the development of a programmable stamp that can pattern many overlapping nanomaterial on arbitrary substrates using a room temperature printing approach. The utility of such a scheme is demonstrated by implementing the first electronic nose with an array of the three most commonly used chemiresistive nanomaterials: carbon chemiresistors, metal oxide nanostructures, and conductive polymers. The second contribution is the incorporation of vastly different gas sensitive nanomaterials onto a CMOS chip in an effort towards making an electronic analog of the human nose. Lastly, dielectrophoresis is used to integrate an array of gas sensitive materials into a novel microscale gas chromatography device to analyze gas mixtures. Each of these contributions provides a practical pathway for fabrication of devices based on nanomaterials, and more specifically on realization of sensors based on nanomaterials.