Vapor Sensing Characteristics of Nanoelectromechanical Chemical Sensors Functionalized Using Surface-Initiated Polymerization

Surface-initiated polymerization has been used to grow thick, uniform poly­(methyl methacrylate) films on nanocantilever sensors. Cantilevers with these coatings yielded significantly greater sensitivity relative to bare devices as well as relative to devices that had been coated with drop-cast polymer films. The devices with surface-initiated polymer films also demonstrated high selectivity toward polar analytes. Surface-initiated polymerization can therefore provide a straightforward, reproducible method for large-scale functionalization of nanosensors.