Numerical modeling of nanotube embedded chemicapacitive sensors

We present a novel biochemical sensing concept and construct a computational model of its electrostatic properties. The device is a chemicapacitive sensor with an embedded nanotube replacing one of the metal plates. A schematic geometry of the proposed sensor is compared to that of a traditional chemicapacitive sensor (Patel et al., 2003). The device´s capacitance changes when target particles enter the sensor. The sensor´s sensitivity corresponds to the percent difference in capacitance per unit length as the sensor is contaminated. Notably, the nanotube is orders of magnitude smaller than the sensing plate in the traditional device, and is similar in size to the particles being detected. By introducing a computationally efficient, physically-based simulation, this paper demonstrates the intuitive result that the proposed sensor is far more sensitive than a traditional one.