Good chemical selectivity of sensors for detecting vapour traces of targeted molecules is vital to the reliable detection systems for explosives and other harmful matter. We present design, construction and measurements of electronic response of a 16 channel electronic nose based on 16 differential microcapacitors, which were surface-functionalized by different silanes. The e-nose detects less than 1 molecule of TNT out of 10+12 N2 molecules in a carrier gas in 1 second. Differently silanized sensors give different response to different molecules. Electronic response is presented for TNT, RDX, DNT, H2S, HCN, FeS, NH3, propane, methanol, acetone, ethanol, methane, toluene and water. We consider number density of these molecules and find out that silane surfaces show extreme affinity to attracting the molecules of TNT, DNT and RDX. The probability to bind these molecules and form a surface-adsorbate is typically 10+7 times larger than the probability to bind water molecules, for example. We present a matrix of responses of differently functionalized microcapacitors and we propose that chemical selectivity of artificial intelligence.
COBISS.SI-ID: 11909716