Graphene-Based Ion-Selective Field-Effect Transistor for Sodium Sensing

Abstract

Field-effect transistors have attracted significant attention in chemical sensing and clinical diagnosis, due to their high sensitivity and label-free operation. Through a scalable photolithographic process in this study, we fabricated graphene-based ion-sensitive field-effect transistor (ISFET) arrays that can continuously monitor sodium ions in real-time. As the sodium ion concentration increased, the current–gate voltage characteristic curves shifted towards the negative direction, showing that sodium ions were captured and could be detected over a wide concentration range, from 10−8 to 10−1 M, with a sensitivity of 152.4 mV/dec. Time-dependent measurements and interfering experiments were conducted to validate the real-time measurements and the highly specific detection capability of our sensor. Our graphene ISFETs (G-ISFET) not only showed a fast response, but also exhibited remarkable selectivity against interference ions, including Ca2+, K+, Mg2+ and NH4+. The scalability, high sensitivity and selectivity synergistically make our G-ISFET a promising platform for sodium sensing in health monitoring.