Toward Tunable Photonic Nanosheet Sensors: Strong Influence of the Interlayer Cation on the Sensing Characteristics

An approach toward intercalant tunable nanosheet-based Fabry-Perot sensors is presented. The intercalant tetra-butylammonium significantly increases the sensitivity of the photonic nose sensor to volatile organic compounds with increasing polarity, enabling polarity-driven color-coded vapor differentiation. Paired with the improved millisecond response times for polar vapors, vapor imaging with spatio-temporal resolution is within reach.