Polymer/Ordered mesoporous carbon nanocomposite platelets as superior sensing materials for gas detection with surface acoustic wave devices.

We have prepared nanocomposites of polymers and platelet CMK-5-like carbon and have demonstrated their superior performance for gravimetric gas detection. The zirconium-containing platelet SBA-15 was used as hard template to prepare CMK-5-like carbon, which was then applied as a lightweight and high-surface-area scaffold for the growth of polymers by radical polymerization. Mesoporous nanocomposites composed of four different polymers were used as sensing materials for surface acoustic wave devices to detect ppm-level ammonia gas. The sensors showed much better sensitivity and reversibility than those coated with dense polymer films, and the sensor array could still generate a characteristic pattern for the analyte with a concentration of 16 ppm. The results show that the nanocomposite sensing materials are promising for highly sensitive gravimetric-type electronic nose applications.

Potential-controlled electrodeposition of gold dendrites in the presence of cysteine.

Crystalline Au dendrites were formed by electrodeposition on a glassy carbon electrode from a solution of HAuCl(4) containing cysteine. The Au dendrites possessed a hierarchical architecture with three-fold symmetry; they comprised trunks, branches, and nanorod leaves, which all grew along the <111> direction.