Fiscal Year	2012
Division	Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Science
Department	Physics
Investigator(s)	Hooper, Joseph P.
Sponsor	Office of Naval Research (Navy)
Summary	With the widespread expansion into nanomaterial based sensors, electronics, and composites, there is a need to explore vulnerabilities in these materials that may not exist in their macroscale analogs. In this Statement of Work we present an investigation into the vulnerability of semiconducting metal oxide nanowires typical of "electronic nose" explosive gas sensors. Their sensing ability is closely linked to the surface electronic structure, which in general will be very sensitive to unwanted adsorbates and radiation-induced damage. Explosive-sensing ZnO nanowires will be exposed to moisture and high-intensity electric fields and examined by a combination of in-situ transport imaging, Raman spectroscopy, TGA-DSC/mass spec, and nanoindentation. The electronic, vibrational, thermal, and mechanical properties of the wires derived from these tests will be compared to DFT simulations of pristine and damaged ZnO surfaces. These validated surfaces will then be used to computationally examine surface adsorption of volatile chemicals and explosives. NPS students will be involved directly in research tasks as well as in a detailed literature investigation of nanomaterial-based sensor vulnerabilities.
Keywords
Publications	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data	Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal