Polymer functionalized piezoelectric-FET as humidity/chemical nanosensors

By coating one side of the surface of a ZnO nanobelt (NB) with multilayer polymers using an electrostatic self-assembling process, a humidity/chemical nanosensor based on piezoelectric field effect transistor (PE-FET) is demonstrated. The working principle of the PE-FET relies on the self-contraction/expansion of the polymer, which builds up a strain in the piezoelectric NB and induces a potential drop across the NB that serves as the gate voltage for controlling the current flowing through the NB. The response of PE-FET to the phase transition of the coating polymer was also demonstrated. The device is a component for nanopiezotronics. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.