Ultrasensitive and Regenerative Transistor Sensor Based on Dynamic Covalent Chemistry

Abstract

Field-effect transistor (FET) sensors require not only high sensitivity but also excellent regeneration ability before widespread applications are possible. Although some regenerative FETs have been reported, their lowest limit of detection (LoD) barely achieves 10−15 mol L−1. Here, we develop a graphene FET with a regenerative sensing interface based on dynamic covalent chemistry (DCvC). The LoD down to 5.0 × 10−20 mol L−1 remains even after 10 regenerative cycles, around 4–5 orders of magnitude lower than existing transistor sensors. Owing to its ultra-sensitivity, regeneration ability, and advantages such as simplicity, low cost, label-free and real-time response, the FET sensor based on DCvC is valuable in applications such as medical diagnosis, environment monitoring, etc.