Carbon nanomaterial scaffold films with conductivity at micro and sub-micron levels

Abstract

This work presents novel porous carbon nanomaterial scaffold films (CNSFs) with conductivity at micro and sub-micron levels. The carbon nanomaterial scaffold films (CNSFs) were carefully evaluated by current sensing atomic force microscopy (CS-AFM) to assess their roughness, level of porosity and spatial homogeneity of the electric resistance at the micro and sub-micron levels. CS-AFM showed the arrangement of nanomaterials on the filter and the local surface conductivity, which was highly dependent on the nanomaterial explored and demonstrated that the nanomaterial was, indeed, the only transducer of the electrical signal. The electrical continuity of the films exhibited ohmic and hopping conductivity for all carbon nanomaterial films, being remarked for multi-walled carbon nanotubes revealing, consequently, its potential for molecule detection at the microscale. The antifouling of these CNSFs (RSDs < 7%, n = 10) was demonstrated towards the electrochemical transduction at the microscale of neurotransmitters and phenolic markers as the target molecules in complex media. These CNSFs provide a simple and affordable alternative for expanding new frontiers for (bio-)molecule detection and other chemistry applications at micro and sub-micron levels.