Sensitivity enhancement of carbon nanotube based ammonium ion sensors through surface modification by using oxygen plasma treatment

We have shown that the sensitivity of carbon nanotube (CNT) based sensors can be enhanced as high as 74 times through surface modification by using the inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition method with oxygen. The plasma treatment power was maintained as low as 10 W within 20 s, and the oxygen plasma was generated far away from the sensors to minimize the plasma damage. From X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, we found that the concentration of oxygen increased with the plasma treatment time, which implies that oxygen functional groups or defect sites were generated on the CNT surface.