More Like this

1. Ultrasensitive tapered optical fiber refractive index glucose sensor

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31127-4  

   Ujah, Erem ; Lai, Meimei ; Slaughter, Gymama ( March 2023 , Scientific Reports)

   Refractive index (RI) sensors are of great interest for label-free optical biosensing. A tapered optical fiber (TOF) RI sensor with micron-sized waist diameters can dramatically enhance sensor sensitivity by reducing the mode volume over a long distance. Here, a simple and fast method is used to fabricate highly sensitive refractive index sensors based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). Two TOFs (l = 5 mm) with waist diameters of 5 µm and 12 µm demonstrated sensitivity enhancement at λ = 1559 nm for glucose sensing (5–45 wt%) at room temperature. The optical power transmission decreased with increasing glucose concentration due to the interaction of the propagating light in the evanescent field with glucose molecules. The coating of the TOF with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as an active layer for glucose sensing generated LSPR through the interaction of the evanescent wave with AuNPs deposited at the tapered waist. The results indicated that the TOF (Ø = 5 µm) exhibited improved sensing performance with a sensitivity of 1265%/RIU compared to the TOF (Ø = 12 µm) at 560%/RIU towards glucose. The AuNPs were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and ultraviolent-visible spectroscopy. The AuNPs-decorated TOF (Ø = 12 µm) demonstrated a high sensitivity of 2032%/RIU toward glucose. The AuNPs-decorated TOF sensor showed a sensitivity enhancement of nearly 4 times over TOF (Ø = 12 µm) with RI ranging from 1.328 to 1.393. The fabricated TOF enabled ultrasensitive glucose detection with good stability and fast response that may lead to next-generation ultrasensitive biosensors for real-world applications, such as disease diagnosis.

    

   more » « less
2. Critical thickness of polymer‐derived ceramic coatings with particulate fillers

   https://doi.org/10.1111/ijac.14269  

   Zhang, Zhao ; Bordia, Rajendra K. ; Peng, Fei ( November 2022 , International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology)

   In this study, we demonstrate a novel environmental barrier coating processed from polymer‐derived ceramics (PDCs) with homogeneously distributed sub‐micrometer Y₂O₃as the filler. Under suitable conditions, dense and crack‐free coatings can be achieved for all the designed compositions with the volumetric content of Y₂O₃varied from 45 to 93 vol%. To process the PDC SiC–Y₂O₃composite coatings, Y₂O₃particles and SiC liquid precursor were uniformly dispersed in hexane and then dip‐coated on SiC substrates. After cross‐linking at 250°C and heat‐treated at 900°C in argon, dense and crack‐free PDC SiC–Y₂O₃composite coatings were formed. The effect of coating thickness and heat‐treatment temperature on the formation of cracks due to constrained pyrolysis was studied. The critical thickness for realizing crack‐free coatings of three compositions (i.e., 93, 77, and 45 vol% Y₂O₃) was studied for heat treatment from 1000 to 1300°C using atomic force microscope and scanning electron microscopy. As heat‐treatment temperature increases, the critical coating thickness decreases for the same coating compositions due to enhanced shrinkage at higher temperature. With higher Y₂O₃content, the critical thickness of the coating increased. The inert Y₂O₃particles reduce the amount of polymer leading to reduction in the overall constrained shrinkage of the coating during heat treatment.

    

   more » « less
3. Trap-dominated nitrogen dioxide and ammonia responses of air-stable p-channel conjugated polymers from detailed bias stress analysis

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TC05458E  

   Mukhopadhyaya, Tushita ; Katz, Howard E. ( March 2021 , Journal of Materials Chemistry C)

   null (Ed.)

   The improvement of conjugated polymer-based gas sensors involves fine tuning the backbone electronic structure and solid-state microstructure to combine high stability and sensitivity. We had previously developed a series of diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-based polymer semiconductors by introducing a variety of fluorene linkers to study the trends and mechanisms governing gas sensitivities and electronic stability in air and under gate and drain bias stress. The proportional on-current change of organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) using a dithienyl DPP–fluorene polymer reached ∼600% for a sequential exposure from 0.5–20 ppm of NO 2 for 5 minutes and also a high response-to-drift ratio under dynamic bias stress. In the present work we specify the roles of static bias stress and traps in the sensing process for the first time. Apart from electronic structure, defects at the molecular and microstructural levels govern the ability to form and sustain traps and subsequent backbone dopability. A polymer with a twisted backbone was observed to be capable of creating an energetically broad trap distribution while a polymer with a high degree of solid-state order shows a tendency to form an energetically narrow trap distribution and a fast passivation of traps on exposure to air. The stability and energetic distribution of traps on subjecting the polymers to bias stress was related to electronic structure and solid-state packing; and the ability of NO 2 and NH 3 to fill/create traps further was evaluated. At a bias stress condition of V G = V D = −80 V, the polymers retain their NO 2 sensitivity both post NO 2 -aided recovery and air-aided recovery. In order to verify the ability of NH 3 to create traps, traps were erased from the OFET sensors by charging with the aid of a positive gate voltage leading to an increase in the NH 3 response when compared to air controls. This work demonstrates that the charge-trap filling and generation response mechanism is predominant and can even be leveraged for higher responses to vapors. Backbone dopability appears to be a minor contributor to responses in this category of polymeric semiconductors with engineered defects. Finally, bias stress generally does not preclude this category of OFET vapor sensors from recovering their original sensitivities. 

   more » « less
4. Oxygen-bearing functionalities enhancing NO 2 , NH 3 , and acetone electronic response and response variation by polythiophenes in organic field-effect transistor sensors

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D1TC04650K  

   Wagner, Justine ; Song, Yunjia ; Shapiro, Jenna ; Katz, Howard E. ( February 2022 , Journal of Materials Chemistry C)

   We investigated the enhanced vapor responses and altered response ratios of a series of thiophene (co)polymers with oxygenated side chains (CH 2 OH, linear polyethylene glycol, and crown ether), including the novel poly(3-hydroxymethylthiophene) (PTOH) and other newly synthesized polymers. Hydroxymethyl-containing copolymers had higher mobility compared to poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). The larger crown ether moiety promotes transistor characteristics of P3HT while the smaller one impairs them. Incorporating different oxygen bearing functionalities increased responses of thiophene polymers to NO 2 , NH 3 , and acetone. For example a polyether side chain increases the NO 2 response sensitivity of copolymers of both P3HT and PTOH, but sensitivity towards gas analytes was more prominent for glycol-based functionalities rather than the crown ethers. PTOH is very sensitive to NO 2 and the response likely includes a contribution from conductive protons on the OH group. The lack of correlation among the rank-ordered gas sensitivities imparted by each functional group was found to be useful for designing a selective sensor array. We specifically showed high classification accuracy for all the polymer responses to NO 2 and acetone vapors, both of which gave increased device currents but with response ratios different enough to allow highly classifying discriminant functions to be derived. 

   more » « less
5. Additive Manufacturing of Photocurable PVDF-Based Capacitive Sensor

   https://doi.org/10.1115/SMASIS2023-111151  

   Srinivasaraghavan Govindarajan, Rishikesh ; Ren, Zefu ; Madiyar, Foram ; Kim, Daewon ( September 2023 , American Society of Mechanical Engineers)

   The demand for the capacitive sensor has attracted substantial attention in monitoring pressure due to its distinctive design and passive nature with versatile sensing capability. The effectiveness of the capacitive sensor primarily relies on the variation in thickness of the dielectric layer sandwiched between conductive electrodes. Additive manufacturing (AM), a set of advanced fabrication techniques, enables the production of functional electronic devices in a single-step process. Particularly, the 3D printing approach based on photocuring is a tailorable process in which the resin consists of multiple components that deliver essential mechanical qualities with enhanced sensitivity towards targeted measurements. However, the availability of photocurable resin exhibiting essential flexibility and dielectric properties for the UV-curing production process is limited. The necessity of a highly stable and sensitive capacitive sensor demands a photocurable polymer resin with a higher dielectric constant and conductive electrodes. The primary purpose of this study is to design and fabricate a capacitive device composed of novel photocurable Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) resin utilizing an LCD process exhibiting higher resolution with electrodes embedded inside the substrate. The embedded electrode channels in PVDF substrate are filled with conductive silver paste by an injection process. The additively manufactured sensor provides pressure information by means of a change in capacitance of the dielectric material between the electrodes. X-Ray based micro CT-Scan ex-situ analysis is performed to visualize the capacitance based sensor filled with conductive electrodes. The sensor is tested to measure capacitance response with changes in pressure as a function of time that are utilized for sensitivity analysis. This work represents a significant achievement of AM integration in developing efficient and robust capacitive sensors for pressure monitoring or wearable electronic applications.

    

   more » « less