Nanoelectronics for Minimally Invasive Cellular Recordings

Advances in cellular recordings using engineered devices have greatly increased the understanding in biological systems. These recordings have been an essential part in a broad variety of fields ranging from neuroscience and cardiology to cell biology and have been applied both in research and clinical applications. To provide less tissue damage, reduce foreign‐body response, and enhance long‐term signal stability, the engineered devices need to be minimally invasive. Pursuing these goals, recently, nanoelectronic probes with improved mechanical, chemical, and biocompatible properties have been developed. Moreover, innovative and automated insertion techniques of neural probes have been reported, further progressing toward a high‐bandwidth brain–machine interface system. In this progress report, recent progress in materials, device designs, and implementation techniques aiming for minimally invasive cellular recordings (both in vivo and in vitro) is highlighted, and future directions in these areas are proposed.     

纳米线阵列高效太阳能转换的原理和研究进展

首先从热力学角度讨论减少太阳能光伏结构效率损失,特别是光学熵损失的原理和途径,然后介绍半导体纳米线阵列在降低材料使用率的同时有效实现陷光和降低发射角的结构设计,其中由直径渐变纳米线形成的非周期阵列具有可见到近红外宽波段的导模共振陷光能力,同时极低的发射角大幅度地抑制了自发辐射引起的光子损失,成为有望突破Shockley-Queisser转换效率极限的光伏结构.     

Photothermal Modulation of Depression-Related Ion Channel Function through Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticles

Considering recent breakthroughs in the field of optogenetics, a powerful tool is established in the present study to modulate the activities of target neurons through the application of light-based methods. Near-infrared (NIR) light enables the penetration of deep-tissue. As a result, it can be used to modulate the functions of proteins/cells. Herein, it is aimed to develop a NIR light-sensitive drug delivery system to spatially and temporally control the activation of the loaded drug at the stimulation sites through its release from a nanoparticle sensitive to NIR. Owing to their excellent photothermal effect under NIR irradiation, the nanoparticles are found to penetrate the blood-brain barrier effectively, ultimately reaching neurons. Furthermore, by loading fasudil, a selective activator of the Kv7.4 potassium channel, into the precisely designed and synthesized NIR light-sensitive nanoparticles, the firing frequency of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area is found to be remarkably reduced upon NIR light irradiation. Such findings shed light on a new concept that can be used for developing more selective drug therapies for the treatment of diseases, such as major depression.     

Near-Infrared Light Triggered Self-Powered Mechano-Optical Communication System using Wearable Photodetector Textile

The merging of humans and machines depends on the contact sensor medium used. However, this contact interaction inevitably leads to mechanical loss. Photodetectors are cutting-edge tools in optical communication that use controlled lighting to achieve efficient signal conversion to drive mechano–optical communication systems and provide an innovative interface for the Internet of Things services. Here, a self-powered, non-contact mechano–optical communication system based on a wearable Te@TeSe photodetector textile is presented, which encodes near-infrared light to modulate robotic manipulator actions. The wearable Te@TeSe photodetector textile enhanced the photocurrent and responsivity by 400 times compared to a pristine Te nanowire (NW) array. The type II heterojunction of Te@TeSe NWs is proved by first-principles calculations and simulated, providing insights on photogenic carrier transmission in Te@TeSe NWs. This system shows the possibility of duplicate real-time execution of mechanical gestures in virtual environments and paves the way for advanced optical devices applied to information transmission and mechano–optical communication.     

Flexible and Air-Stable Near-Infrared Sensors Based on Solution-Processed Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Phototransistors

Flexible and air-stable phototransistors are highly demanded for wearable near-infrared (NIR) image sensors. However, advanced NIR sensors via low-cost, solution-based processes remained a challenge. Herein, high-performance inorganic–organic hybrid phototransistors are achieved based on solution processed n-type metal oxide/polymer semiconductor heterostructures of In₂O₃/poly{5,5′-bis[3,5-bis(thienyl)phenyl]-2,2′-bithiophene-3-ethylesterthiophene]} (PTPBT-ET). The In₂O₃/PTPBT-ET hybrid phototransistor combines the advantages of both fast electron transport in In₂O₃ and high photoresponse in PTPBT-ET, showing high saturation mobility of 7.1 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ and large current on/off ratio of >10⁷. As a result, the phototransistor exhibits high performance towards NIR light sensing with a responsivity of 200 A W⁻¹, a specific detectivity of 1.2 × 10¹³ Jones, and fast photoresponse with rise/fall time of 5/120 ms. Remarkably, the hybrid phototransistor, without any passivation, demonstrates excellent electrical stability without performance degradation even after 160 days in air. A 10 × 10 phototransistor array is also enabled by virtue of the high device uniformity. Lastly, flexible In₂O₃/PTPBT-ET phototransistor on polyimide substrate is attained, exhibiting outstanding mechanical flexibility up to 1000 bending/releasing cycles at a bending radius of 5 mm. These achievements pave the way for constructing air-stable hybrid phototransistors for flexible NIR image sensor applications.     

可见近红外波段碲镉汞材料光学常数测定与宽谱增透设计

将碲镉汞(Hg_(1-x)Cd_xTe)红外焦平面器件衬底去除后,其响应波段可拓展到可见光波段,在高光谱成像应用中可显著减小系统的尺寸和重量,对光电探测系统的小型化和微型化具有重要实用价值.而明确碲镉汞材料在可见近红外波段的光学常数,对碲镉汞器件在这一响应波段的性能研究具有重要意义.分别测量了不同组分碲镉汞材料的椭圆偏振光谱,拟合得到了其在400~1 600 nm波段范围内的光学常数值,并利用反射光谱对获得的光学常数进行了验证.采用这些碲镉汞外延材料光学常数测量值,并选用Zn S和YF3分别作为高低折射率的增透膜材料,针对不同响应波段的背入射可见近红外碲镉汞焦平面器件,设计了不同的宽谱增透膜系,响应波段范围内的平均透过率高于90%.     

Low power DDA-based instrumentation amplifier for neural recording applications in 65 nm CMOS

The low power instrumentation amplifier (IA) presented in this paper has been designed to be the front-end of an integrated neural recording system, in which common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR), input referred noise and power consumption are critical requirements. The proposed IA topology exploits a differential-difference amplifier (DDA) whose differential output current drives a fully differential, high-resistance, transimpedance stage, with an embedded common-mode feedback loop to increase the CMRR. This stage is followed by a differential-to-single-ended output amplifier. Low-power operation has been achieved by exploiting sub-threshold operation of MOS transistors and adopting a supply voltage of 1 V. Simulation results in a commercial 65 nm CMOS technology show a 1 Hz to 5 kHz bandwidth, a CMRR higher than 120 dB, an input referred noise of 8.1 μVrms and a power consumption of 1.12 μW.     

一种基于VxWorks的高速实时数据记录系统的设计

本文针对大规模数据记录系统对嵌入式系统实现的实时性需求,设计了一种采用VxWorks操作系统的嵌入式实现方案,该方案采用模块化的设计架构,利用VxWorks灵活的多任务调度机制和任务间通信机制,建立了一种多任务间通信模型.通过对任务功能的合理划分和任务优先级的设置,该嵌入式系统克服了数据记录过程中数据丢失、数据覆盖的问题,提高了数据记录的实时性和可靠性要求.     

Manipulating Host-Guest Charge Transfer of a Water-Soluble Double-Cavity Cyclophane for NIR-II Photothermal Therapy

Water-soluble small organic photothermal agents (PTAs) over NIR-II biowindow (1000–1350 nm) are highly desirable, but the rarity greatly limits their applications. Based on a water-soluble double-cavity cyclophane GBox-4⁴⁺ , we report a class of host–guest charge transfer (CT) complexes as structurally uniform PTAs for NIR-II photothermal therapy. As a result of its high electron-deficiency, GBox-4⁴⁺ can bind different electron-rich planar guests with a 1 : 2 host/guest stoichiometry to readily tune the CT absorption band that extends to the NIR-II region. When using a diaminofluorene guest substituted with an oligoethylene glycol chain, the host–guest system realized both good biocompatibility and enhanced photothermal conversion at 1064 nm, and was then exploited as a high-efficiency NIR-II PTA for cancer cell and bacterial ablation. This work broadens the potential applications of host–guest cyclophane systems and provides a new access to bio-friendly NIR-II photoabsorbers with well-defined structures.     

近红外光谱分析技术在快速分析上的应用

简要介绍了近红外光谱的原理、特点,综述了近红外光谱在农业、食品、制药、石油化工、高分子等领域快速分析上的研究及应用现状,并对近红外光谱的应用前景进行了展望．