Polytetrafluoroethylene-Inspired Intrinsically Moisture-Resistant Semiconductor for Gas Sensing

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Abstract Water molecules in ambient air readily adsorb on semiconductor dangling bonds and polar sites, perturbing charge transport and degrading electrical performance and stability. Achieving moisture resistance without compromising electronic function and surface activity remains a fundamental challenge. Inspired by polytetrafluoroethylene, we introduce a symmetry-driven dipole-cancellation strategy to design an intrinsically moisture-resistant semiconductor, Cd-NTP. In Cd-NTP structure, centrosymmetric alignment of nitrobenzene (sensing functional group) along the Cd-S backbone suppresses the net dipole to 0.07 Debye, affording a water contact angle of 136°. As a proof of concept, Cd-NTP chemiresistive sensor exhibits an 852% response to 100 ppm NH3 at room temperature with only 4% variation across 10–90% RH. This moisture-resistant performance surpasses that of current state-of-the-art single-component materials and commercial devices. This work establishes a molecular design strategy that decouples hydrophobicity from electronic performance, providing a viable pathway toward moisture-resistant semiconductor applications.
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Polytetrafluoroethylene-Inspired Intrinsically Moisture-Resistant Semiconductor for Gas Sensing | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Polytetrafluoroethylene-Inspired Intrinsically Moisture-Resistant Semiconductor for Gas Sensing Gang Xu, Jie Chen, Yinxue Jin, Xiao-Liang Ye, Yi-Ming Xu, Yu Chang, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9243909/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Water molecules in ambient air readily adsorb on semiconductor dangling bonds and polar sites, perturbing charge transport and degrading electrical performance and stability. Achieving moisture resistance without compromising electronic function and surface activity remains a fundamental challenge. Inspired by polytetrafluoroethylene, we introduce a symmetry-driven dipole-cancellation strategy to design an intrinsically moisture-resistant semiconductor, Cd-NTP. In Cd-NTP structure, centrosymmetric alignment of nitrobenzene (sensing functional group) along the Cd-S backbone suppresses the net dipole to 0.07 Debye, affording a water contact angle of 136°. As a proof of concept, Cd-NTP chemiresistive sensor exhibits an 852% response to 100 ppm NH3 at room temperature with only 4% variation across 10–90% RH. This moisture-resistant performance surpasses that of current state-of-the-art single-component materials and commercial devices. This work establishes a molecular design strategy that decouples hydrophobicity from electronic performance, providing a viable pathway toward moisture-resistant semiconductor applications. Physical sciences/Chemistry/Coordination chemistry Physical sciences/Chemistry/Inorganic chemistry Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files CdNTP.cif Crystal structure data file ESI.docx Support information Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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