Graphene nanoelectronic heterodyne sensor for rapid and sensitive vapour detection

Nearly all existing nanoelectronic sensors are based on charge detection, where molecular binding changes the charge density of the sensor and leads to sensing signal. However, intrinsically slow dynamics of interface-trapped charges and defect-mediated charge-transfer processes significantly limit those sensors’ response to tens to hundreds of seconds, which has long been known as a bottleneck for studying the dynamics of molecule–nanomaterial interaction and for many applications requiring rapid and sensitive response. Here we report a fundamentally different sensing mechanism based on molecular dipole detection enabled by a pioneering graphene nanoelectronic heterodyne sensor. The dipole detection mechanism is confirmed by a plethora of experiments with vapour molecules of various dipole moments, particularly, with cis- and trans-isomers that have different polarities. Rapid (down to ~\n0.1 s) and sensitive (down to ~\n1 ppb) detection of a wide range of vapour analytes is achieved, representing orders of magnitude improvement over state-of-the-art nanoelectronics sensors.