Thickness shear mode resonators ("mass-sensitive devices") in bioanalysis

A short overview of function and experimental set-ups of acoustic wave devices is given which, in contrast to other bioanalysis techniques, are based on a mechanical transduction mechanism. The most frequently used device is the thickness shear mode resonator (TSMR), which in the last few years was intensively employed in biosensor applications. TSMR biosensor studies in the field of nucleic acid interaction, adsorption of proteins to surfaces and immunosensing are reviewed. A main point concerns the interpretation of the sensor response not only in terms of mass loading, which underestimates the capabilities of these devices.     

Thickness shear mode resonators (“mass-sensitive devices”) in bioanalysis

A short overview of function and experimental set-ups of acoustic wave devices is given which, in contrast to other bioanalysis techniques, are based on a mechanical transduction mechanism. The most frequently used device is the thickness shear mode resonator (TSMR), which in the last few years was intensively employed in biosensor applications. TSMR biosensor studies in the field of nucleic acid interaction, adsorption of proteins to surfaces and immunosensing are reviewed. A main point concerns the interpretation of the sensor response not only in terms of mass loading, which underestimates the capabilities of these devices.     

Nitric Oxide Release for Enhanced Biocompatibility and Analytical Performance of Implantable Electrochemical Sensors

The real-time, continuous monitoring of glucose/lactate, blood gases and electrolytes by implantable electrochemical sensors holds significant value for critically ill and diabetic patients. However, the wide-spread use of such devices has been seriously hampered by implant-initiated host responses (e. g., thrombus formation, inflammatory responses and bacterial infection) when sensors are implanted in blood or tissue. As a result, the accuracy and usable lifetime of in vivo sensors are often compromised. Nitric oxide (NO) is an endogenous gas molecule able to inhibit platelet adhesion/activation, inflammatory responses and bacterial growth. As such, the release of NO from the surfaces of in vivo sensors is a promising strategy for enhancement of their biocompatibility and analytical performance. In this review, the physiological functions of NO to improve the biocompatibility of implantable electrochemical sensors are introduced, followed by a brief analysis of chemical approaches to realize NO release from such devices. A detailed summary of the various types of NO releasing electrochemical sensors reported to date and their performance in benchtop and/or in vivo testing are also provided. Finally, the prospects of future developments to further advance NO releasing sensor technology for clinical use are discussed.     

碳纳米管薄膜的制备及其在柔性电子器件中的应用

近年来,柔性电子器件的发展日新月异。以碳纳米管为代表的碳纳米材料,尤其是其组装成的宏观结构碳纳米管薄膜具有良好的柔性和优异的导电性,且具有化学稳定、热稳定、光学透明性等优点,在柔性电子领域展现了极大的应用潜力。本文简要综述了近年来碳纳米管薄膜在柔性电子器件领域的研究进展。首先详细介绍了碳纳米管薄膜的两类主要制备方法,分别为干法制备和湿法制备;继而介绍了碳纳米管薄膜在多种柔性电子器件的组装、性能与应用方面的最新研究进展;最后总结了碳纳米管薄膜基柔性电子领域的发展现状,并讨论了该领域所面临的挑战及其未来前景。     

Established and emerging atmospheric pressure surface sampling/ionization techniques for mass spectrometry

The number and type of atmospheric pressure techniques suitable for sampling analytes from surfaces, forming ions from these analytes, and subsequently transporting these ions into vacuum for interrogation by MS have rapidly expanded over the last several years. Moreover, the literature in this area is complicated by an explosion in acronyms for these techniques, many of which provide no information relating to the chemical or physical processes involved. In this tutorial article, we sort this vast array of techniques into relatively few categories on the basis of the approaches used for surface sampling and ionization. For each technique, we explain, as best known, many of the underlying principles of operation, describe representative applications, and in some cases, discuss needed research or advancements and attempt to forecast their future analytical utility. Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stamp transfer electrodes for electrochemical sensing on non-planar and oversized surfaces

This article describes a new alternative approach to the fabrication of printed electrochemical sensors and biosensors based on the transfer of electrode patterns comprising common conductive and insulating inks from elastomeric stamps to a wide variety of rigid and flexible substrates. This simple, low cost, yet robust methodology is demonstrated to be well-suited for the formation of electrochemical sensors on non-planar substrates and large objects/structures, which have traditionally been off-limits to conventional screen printing techniques. Furthermore, the stamped electrode devices are shown to exhibit electrochemical performance that rivals that of their screen printed counterparts and display resilience against severe mechanical deformation. The stamp transfer approach is further extended to the demonstration of epidermal electrochemical sensors through the transfer of the electrode patterns directly onto the skin. The resulting sensors demonstrate a wide range of usability, from the detection of various physiological analytes, including uric acid on the skin, to the identification of residues originating from the handling of munitions and explosives. The migration of printable electrochemical sensors to non-conventional (non-planar and/or oversized) surfaces provides new opportunities within the personal healthcare, fitness, forensics, homeland security, and environmental monitoring domains.     

Enzymatic biosensors based on SWCNT-conducting polymer electrodes

This short review is focused on recent advances in the combination of conducting polymers and SWCNTs for the fabrication of electrochemical biosensors. The different properties of conducting polymers and SWCNTs are discussed in respect of their use in immobilizing and wiring biomolecules on electrode surfaces. We further describe the functionalization techniques used in the fabrication of these devices and their associated biosensing performances.     

Microfluidic ion-sensing devices

Quantitative determinations of ions in a variety of media have been performed traditionally via one of three approaches: optical instrumental methods (e.g., atomic absorption, and inductively-coupled plasma-optical emission or mass spectrometry), “wet” methods, or ion-selective sensors. Each of the approaches, though, possesses limitations including: power/reagent consumption and lack of portability for instrumental techniques; laborious sample-treatment steps for wet methods; and lack of selectivity and sensitivity with sensors when employed with complex samples. Microfluidic device have emerged as a solution to some of these challenges associated with ion analysis. Such systems can integrate multiple sample handling, calibration, and detection steps (“lab-on-a-chip” concept) into a footprint amenable to portability, while requiring small amounts of sample and power. Furthermore, devices can be constructed for multi-analyte detection, either through multiple parallel fluidic architectures or by using arrays of detection elements. This paper reviews recent progress in the development of total-analysis systems for ionic species. Fabrication techniques and various fluid-handling operations are discussed briefly, followed by a number of more mature strategies for microfluidic ion analysis. A variety of approaches expected to comprise the next generation of devices are also presented.     

高分子功能材料图案化制备及其在光电领域的应用

基于半导体高分子功能材料的新型光电器件因其兼容性好、成本低、加工处理方便等特点逐渐走入人们的视野.加工集成高性能高分子光电器件需要用到可控图案化技术,这也将成为未来物联网、光通信、智能社会的基础核心技术.近年来,许多致力于此方面的研究取得了重要的成果.本文总结了各类高分子材料图案化技术,包括光刻法、模具诱导法、印刷法、浸润性调控组装法的技术特点,然后归纳了高分子图案化技术在场效应晶体管、光电探测器、气体传感器、电致发光二极管、光伏器件等光电器件领域的研究进展,最后对未来这一领域发展的挑战与机遇进行了展望.     

Toward decentralized analysis of mercury (II) in real samples. A critical review on nanotechnology-based methodologies

In recent years, it has increased the number of works focused on the development of novel nanoparticle-based sensors for mercury detection, mainly motivated by the need of low cost portable devices capable of giving fast and reliable analytical response, thus contributing to the analytical decentralization. Methodologies employing colorimetric, fluorometric, magnetic, and electrochemical output signals allowed reaching detection limits within the pM and nM ranges. Most of these developments proved their suitability in detecting and quantifying mercury (II) ions in synthetic solutions or spiked water samples. However, the state of art in these technologies is still behind the standard methods of mercury quantification, such as cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma techniques, in terms of reliability and sensitivity. This is mainly because the response of nanoparticle-based sensors is highly affected by the sample matrix. The developed analytical nanosystems may fail in real samples because of the negative incidence of the ionic strength and the presence of exchangeable ligands. The aim of this review is to critically consider the recently published innovations in this area, and highlight the needs to include more realistic assays in future research in order to make these advances suitable for on-site analysis.     

Capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection for microseparation techniques - recent developments

An overview of the developments of capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection in CE and related techniques over approximately the last 2 years is given. The method has seen strong growth, and diverse new applications are being reported. Besides more advanced techniques on conventional capillaries, these include further developments of detection on lab-on-chip devices as well as in miniaturized chromatographic systems and some methods not involving separations. An increasing number of reports are based on the now readily available commercial detectors, but, while few publications on fundamental studies have appeared recently, interesting new approaches on creating low cost devices have also appeared.     

Formation and removal of alkylthiolate self-assembled monolayers on gold in aqueous solutions

We report the development of novel reagents and approaches for generating recyclable biosensors. The use of aqueous media for the formation of protein binding alkylthiolate monolayers on Au surfaces results in accelerated alkylthiolate monolayer formation and improvement in monolayer integrity as visualized by fluorescence microscopy and CV techniques. We have also developed an electrocleaning protocol that is compatible with microfluidics devices, and this technique serves as an on-chip method for cleaning Au substrates both before and after monolayer formation. The techniques for the formation and dissociation of biotinylated SAMs from aqueous solvents reported here may be applied towards the development of Au-based sensor devices and microfluidics chips in the future. A potential use of these devices includes the specific capture and triggered release of target cells, proteins, or small molecules from liquid samples.     

Electrochemical sensors for monitoring environmental pollutants

Stricter environmental controls on the emission and discharge of chemical pollutants are creating an increased demand for the development of improved chemical sensor devices. Although electrochemical sensors show great promise for this task, their utility has been constrained by a number of practical problems, the most serious being the effect of surface adsorption of impurities leading to non-reproducible response. This review presents a survey of recent advances in electrochemical sensor technology which have attempted to improve the performance of these devices. Three main areas of development have been addressed; advances in sensor design and measurement techniques, novel approaches to conferring electrode selectivity and the use of microminiaturization and microelectronics fabrication techniques. Recent applications and future prospects for the measurement of toxic metals, organics and gases including volatile organic compounds are surveyed.     

Design of fluorescent materials for chemical sensing

There is an enormous demand for chemical sensors for many areas and disciplines. High sensitivity and ease of operation are two main issues for sensor development. Fluorescence techniques can easily fulfill these requirements and therefore fluorescent-based sensors appear as one of the most promising candidates for chemical sensing. However, the development of sensors is not trivial; material science, molecular recognition and device implementation are some of the aspects that play a role in the design of sensors. The development of fluorescent sensing materials is increasingly captivating the attention of the scientists because its implementation as a truly sensory system is straightforward. This critical review shows the use of polymers, sol-gels, mesoporous materials, surfactant aggregates, quantum dots, and glass or gold surfaces, combined with different chemical approaches for the development of fluorescent sensing materials. Representative examples have been selected and they are commented here.     

Self-assembly and field-responsive optical diffractions of superparamagnetic colloids

Superparamagnetic Fe(3)O(4) colloids with highly charged surfaces have been assembled into ordered structures in water in response to external magnetic fields. The colloids form chainlike structures with regular interparticle spacings of a few hundred nanometers along the direction of the external field so that the system strongly diffracts visible light. The balance between attractive (in this case, magnetic) and repulsive (electrostatic) forces dictates interparticle spacing and therefore optical properties. By changing the relative strength of these two forces, one can tune the peak diffraction wavelength over the entire visible spectrum. We were able to optimize the diffraction intensity and the tuning range through studying their dependence on variables such as the size distribution and concentration of the Fe(3)O(4) colloids or ionic strength of the solutions. The fast, reversible response and the feasibility for miniaturization impart these photonic materials great potential in applications such as optoelectronic devices, sensors, and color displays.     

Excitation of local magnetic moments by tunneling electrons

The advent of milli-kelvin scanning tunneling microscopes (STM) with inbuilt magnetic fields has opened access to the study of magnetic phenomena with atomic resolution at surfaces. In the case of single atoms adsorbed on a surface, the existence of different magnetic energy levels localized on the adsorbate is due to the breaking of the rotational invariance of the adsorbate spin by the interaction with its environment, leading to energy terms in the meV range. These structures were revealed by STM experiments in IBM Almaden in the early 2000s for atomic adsorbates on CuN surfaces. The experiments consisted in the study of the changes in conductance caused by inelastic tunneling of electrons (IETS, inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy). Manganese and Iron adatoms were shown to have different magnetic anisotropies induced by the substrate. More experiments by other groups followed up, showing that magnetic excitations could be detected in a variety of systems: e.g. complex organic molecules showed that their magnetic anisotropy was dependent on the molecular environment, piles of magnetic molecules showed that they interact via intermolecular exchange interaction, spin waves were excited on ferromagnetic surfaces and in Mn chains, and magnetic impurities have been analyzed on semiconductors. These experiments brought up some intriguing questions: the efficiency of magnetic excitations was very high, the excitations could or could not involve spin flip of the exciting electron and singular-like behavior was sometimes found at the excitation thresholds. These facts called for extended theoretical analysis; perturbation theories, sudden-approximation approaches and a strong coupling scheme successfully explained most of the magnetic inelastic processes. In addition, many-body approaches were also used to decipher the interplay between inelastic processes and the Kondo effect. Spin torque transfer has been shown to be effective in changing spin orientations of an adsorbate in theoretical works, and soon after it was shown experimentally. More recently, the previously mentioned strong coupling approach was extended to treat the excitation of spin waves in atomic chains and the ubiquitous role of electron–hole pair creation in de-exciting spins on surfaces has been analyzed. This review article expounds these works, presenting the theoretical approach by the authors while trying to thoroughly review parallel theoretical and experimental works.     

Electrochromic sensors: Innovative devices enabled by spectroelectrochemical methods

Electrochromic sensors are electrochemical devices exploiting colour changes as a means to simplify device construction and instrumentation requirements. Despite their advantages, electrochromic sensors have begun to emerge only recently. Mainly based on the works appeared in the literature over the past 2 years, we describe the construction and operation of these devices. A simple framework is proposed to understand and classify these devices more easily. This is based on the sensor architecture, their power source, and how information is displayed. Despite being new, electrochromic sensors are already demonstrated in a number of applications, mostly related to health and point-of-care devices.     

New innovations in ionic liquid–based miniaturised amperometric gas sensors

Gas detection is an essential part of everyday life; for some applications, using sensors for toxic and hazardous gases can literally mean the difference between life and death. In this minireview, recent progress in amperometric gas sensing using miniaturised electrodes and devices is described. The focus is on the use of nonvolatile room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) as electrolytes, which possess inherent advantages such as wide electrochemical windows, high thermal and chemical stability, intrinsic conductivity and good solvating properties. Various different gases, electrodes and RTILs have been investigated in the strive towards new materials for improved gas sensors. The most recent developments using porous membrane electrodes, planar devices (e.g. screen-printed, thin-film, microarray and interdigitated electrodes) and the modification of these surfaces for improved sensitivity are described. RTILs have great potential to be used as electrolytes in amperometric gas sensors, with improved lifespan of the sensor in hot/dry environments and allowing miniaturisation of devices. However, it is clear that more understanding of their long-term operation and utility in real environments (e.g. background air, varying temperatures and humidity levels) is needed before their realisation in successful commercial devices.     

Enhancing the stability of kinesin motors for microscale transport applications

Biomolecular motors, such as kinesins, have great potential for micro-actuation and micro- or nanoscale active transport when integrated into microscale devices. However, the stability and limited shelf life of these motor proteins and their associated protein filaments is a barrier to their implementation. Here we demonstrate that freeze-drying or critical point-drying kinesins adsorbed to glass surfaces extends their lifetime from days to more than four months. Further, photoresist deposition and removal can be carried out on these motor-adsorbed surfaces without loss of motor function. The methods developed here are an important step towards realizing the integration of biological motors into practical devices, and these approaches can be extended to patterning and preserving other proteins immobilized on surfaces.