Probing Electrostatic Potentials in Solution with Carbon Nanotube Transistors

We have used single-walled carbon nanotube transistors to measure changes in the chemical potential of a solution due to redox-active transition-metal complexes. The interaction of the molecules with a gold electrolyte-gate wire changes the electrostatic potential sensed by the nanotube, which in turn shifts the gate-voltage dependence of the nanotube conductance. As predicted by the Nernst equation, this shift depends logarithmically on the ratio of oxidized to reduced molecules.