Preliminary studies toward the assembly of a gold-polypyrrole (PPy) peapod-like chemiresistive ammonia (NH3) gas sensors are presented. The proposed synthesis process will use electropolymerization to embed gold nanoparticles in polypyrrole nanowires. Viral-templating of gold nanoparticles and PPy electrodeposition via cyclic voltammetry are the focus of this investigation. A gold-binding M13 bacteriophage was used as a bio-template to assemble continuous chains of gold nanoparticles on interdigitated Pt working electrodes. The dimensions of the resulting nanowire-like structures were examined and the electrical resistance measured. PPy films were electropolymerized using an interdigitated planar, Pt electrode integrated counter and reference electrode. Morphological characterization of the polymer films was completed.

Date Published: 27 August 2014
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 9171, Nanobiosystems: Processing, Characterization, and Applications VII, 91710W (27 August 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2062183

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9171:
Nanobiosystems: Processing, Characterization, and Applications VII
Norihisa Kobayashi; Fahima Ouchen; Ileana Rau, Editor(s)