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Nanowires have substantial potential as the sensor component in electronic sensing devices. However, surface functionalization of traditional nanowire and nanotube materials with short peptides that increase sensor selectivity and sensitivity requires complex chemistries with toxic reagents. In contrast, microorganisms can assemble pilin monomers into protein nanowires with intrinsic conductivity from renewable feedstocks, yielding an electronic material that is robust and stable in applications, but also biodegradable. Here we report that the sensitivity and selectivity of protein nanowire-based sensors can be modified with a simple plug and play genetic approach in which a short peptide sequence, designed to bind the analyte of interest, is incorporated into the pilin protein that is microbially assembled into nanowires. We employed a scalable Escherichia coli chassis to fabricate protein nanowires that displayed either a peptide previously demonstrated to effectively bind ammonia, or a peptide known to bind acetic acid. Sensors comprised of thin films of the nanowires amended with the ammonia-specific peptide had a ca. 100-fold greater response to ammonia than sensors made with unmodified protein nanowires. Protein nanowires with the peptide that binds acetic acid yielded a 4-fold higher response than nanowires without the peptide. The protein nanowire-based sensors had greater responses than previously reported sensors fabricated with other nanomaterials. The results demonstrate that protein nanowires with enhanced sensor response for analytes of interest can be fabricated with a flexible genetic strategy that sustainably eliminates the energy, environmental, and health concerns associated with other common nanomaterials. 

Light transport contains all light information between a light source and an image sensor. As an important application of light transport, dual photography has been a popular research topic, but it is challenged by long acquisition time, low signal-to-noise ratio, and the storage or processing of a large number of measurements. In this Letter, we propose a novel hardware setup that combines a flying-spot micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS) modulated projector with an event camera to implement dual photography for 3D scanning in both line-of-sight (LoS) and non-line-of-sight (NLoS) scenes with a transparent object. In particular, we achieved depth extraction from the LoS scenes and 3D reconstruction of the object in a NLoS scene using event light transport.

 

Interacting electrons in flat bands give rise to a variety of quantum phases. One fundamental aspect of such states is the ordering of the various flavours—such as spin or valley—that the electrons can possess and the excitation spectrum of the broken-symmetry states that they form. These properties cannot be probed directly with electrical transport measurements. The zeroth Landau level of monolayer graphene with fourfold spin–valley degeneracy is a model system for such investigations, but the nature of its broken-symmetry states—particularly at partial fillings—is still not understood. Here we demonstrate a non-invasive spectroscopic technique with a scanning tunnelling microscope and use it to perform measurements of the valley polarization of the electronic wavefunctions and their excitation spectrum in the partially filled zeroth Landau level of graphene. We can extract information such as the strength of the Haldane pseudopotentials that characterize the repulsive interactions underlying the fractional quantum states. Our experiments also demonstrate that fractional quantum Hall phases are built upon broken-symmetry states that persist at partial filling. Our experimental approach quantifies the valley phase diagram of the partially filled Landau level as a model flat-band platform, which is applicable to other graphene-based electronic systems. 

Abstract Employing renewable materials for fabricating clean energy harvesting devices can further improve sustainability. Microorganisms can be mass produced with renewable feedstocks. Here, we demonstrate that it is possible to engineer microbial biofilms as a cohesive, flexible material for long-term continuous electricity production from evaporating water. Single biofilm sheet (~40 µm thick) serving as the functional component in an electronic device continuously produces power density (~1 μW/cm 2 ) higher than that achieved with thicker engineered materials. The energy output is comparable to that achieved with similar sized biofilms catalyzing current production in microbial fuel cells, without the need for an organic feedstock or maintaining cell viability. The biofilm can be sandwiched between a pair of mesh electrodes for scalable device integration and current production. The devices maintain the energy production in ionic solutions and can be used as skin-patch devices to harvest electricity from sweat and moisture on skin to continuously power wearable devices. Biofilms made from different microbial species show generic current production from water evaporation. These results suggest that we can harness the ubiquity of biofilms in nature as additional sources of biomaterial for evaporation-based electricity generation in diverse aqueous environments. 

A suspended nanowire is used to track both the electrical and mechanical activities in cells. 

Air humidity is a vast, sustainable reservoir of energy that, unlike solar and wind, is continuously available. However, previously described technologies for harvesting energy from air humidity are either not continuous or require unique material synthesis or processing, which has stymied scalability and broad deployment. Here, a generic effect for continuous energy harvesting from air humidity is reported, which can be applied to a broad range of inorganic, organic, and biological materials. The common feature of these materials is that they are engineered with appropriate nanopores to allow air water to pass through and undergo dynamic adsorption–desorption exchange at the porous interface, resulting in surface charging. The top exposed interface experiences this dynamic interaction more than the bottom sealed interface in a thin‐film device structure, yielding a spontaneous and sustained charging gradient for continuous electric output. Analyses of material properties and electric outputs lead to a “leaky capacitor” model that can describe how electricity is harvested and predict current behaviors consistent with experiments. Predictions from the model guide the fabrication of devices made from heterogeneous junctions of different materials to further expand the device category. The work opens a wide door for the broad exploration of sustainable electricity from air.

 

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy is used to image valley ordering in graphene in the presence of a magnetic field. 

Abstract Incorporating neuromorphic electronics in bioelectronic interfaces can provide intelligent responsiveness to environments. However, the signal mismatch between the environmental stimuli and driving amplitude in neuromorphic devices has limited the functional versatility and energy sustainability. Here we demonstrate multifunctional, self-sustained neuromorphic interfaces by achieving signal matching at the biological level. The advances rely on the unique properties of microbially produced protein nanowires, which enable both bio-amplitude (e.g., <100 mV) signal processing and energy harvesting from ambient humidity. Integrating protein nanowire-based sensors, energy devices and memristors of bio-amplitude functions yields flexible, self-powered neuromorphic interfaces that can intelligently interpret biologically relevant stimuli for smart responses. These features, coupled with the fact that protein nanowires are a green biomaterial of potential diverse functionalities, take the interfaces a step closer to biological integration.