%0 Journal Article %A Kulkarni, Girish S. %A Reddy, Karthik %A Zang, Wenzhe %A Lee, Kyunghoon %A Fan, Xudong %A Zhong, Zhaohui %D 2016 %T Electrical Probing and Tuning of Molecular Physisorption on Graphene %U https://acs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Electrical_Probing_and_Tuning_of_Molecular_Physisorption_on_Graphene/2089627 %R 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b04500.s001 %2 https://acs.figshare.com/ndownloader/files/3722842 %K binding affinities %K chemical processes %K noncovalent interactions %K graphene surface %K drug discovery %K metal electrodes %K noncovalent physisorption %K work function %K gate voltage range %K catalysi %K desorption kinetics %K molecule %K Molecular Physisorption %K 15 V %K GrapheneThe ability %K probe redox reactions %K graphene nanoelectronic heterodyne sensors %K sensor development %X The ability to tune the molecular interaction electronically can have profound impact on wide-ranging scientific frontiers in catalysis, chemical and biological sensor development, and the understanding of key biological processes. Despite that electrochemistry is routinely used to probe redox reactions involving loss or gain of electrons, electrical probing and tuning of the weaker noncovalent interactions, such as molecular physisorption, have been challenging, primarily due to the inability to change the work function of conventional metal electrodes. To this end, we report electrical probing and tuning of the noncovalent physisorption of polar molecules on graphene surface by using graphene nanoelectronic heterodyne sensors. Temperature-dependent molecular desorptions for six different polar molecules were measured in real-time to study the desorption kinetics and extract the binding affinities. More importantly, we demonstrate electrical tuning of molecule–graphene binding kinetics through electrostatic gating of graphene; the molecular desorption can be slowed down nearly three times within a gate voltage range of 15 V. Our results provide insight into small molecule–nanomaterial interaction dynamics and signify the ability to electrically tailor interactions, which can lead to rational designs of complex chemical processes for catalysis and drug discovery. %I ACS Publications