Phosphorene-based nanosensor for lung cancer detection

Motivated by previous successes in the development of two-dimensional (2D) based electronic nose, we investigate the potential application of metal-decorated phosphorene-based sensor for detection of formaldehyde using density functional theory (DFT) and nonequilibrium Green's function (NEGF) methods. The most stable adsorption configurations, adsorption sites, adsorption energies, charge transfer, and electronic properties of formaldehyde on the pristine and Pd-decorated phosphorene are studied. Our results indicate that formaldehyde is chemisorbed on Pd-decorated phosphorene via strong covalent bonds, and quick recovery time (3.58 sec) under UV exposure and at the temperature of 350 K, suggesting its potential application for gas sensors. The results reveal that Pd-decorated phosphorene can detect formaldehyde with high sensitivity of 3.8 times greater than pristine phosphorene. Our results demonstrate the potential application of phosphorene for detection of formaldehyde as an important lung cancer biomarker.