10 research outputs found
Cellphone Camera Imaging of a Periodically Patterned Chip as a Potential Method for Point-of-Care Diagnostics
In this study, we demonstrate that
a disposable chip periodically
patterned with suitable ligands, an ordinary cellphone camera, and
a simple pattern recognition software, can potentially be used for
quantitative diagnostics. A key factor in this demonstration is the
design of a calibration grid around the chip that, through a contrast
transfer process, enables reliable analysis of the images collected
under variable ambient lighting conditions. After exposure to a dispersion
of amine terminated silica beads used as analyte mimicking pathogens,
an epoxy-terminated glass substrate microcontact printed with octadecyltrichlorosilane
(250 μm periodicity) developed a characteristic pattern of beads
which could be easily imaged with a cellphone camera of 3.2 MP pixels.
A simple pattern recognition algorithm using fast Fourier transform
produced a quantitative estimate of the analyte concentration present
in the test solution. In this method importantly, neither the chip
fabrication process nor the fill-factor of the periodic pattern need
be perfect to arrive at a conclusive diagnosis. The method suggests
a viable platform that may potentially find use in fault-tolerant
and robust point-of-care diagnostic applications
A Supramolecular Nanofiber-Based Passive Memory Device for Remembering Past Humidity
Memorizing
the magnitude of a physical parameter such as relative humidity in
a consignment may be useful for maintaining recommended conditions
over a period of time. In relation to cost and energy considerations,
it is important that the memorizing device works in the unpowered
passive state. In this article, we report the fabrication of a humidity-responsive
device that can memorize the humidity condition it had experienced
while being unpowered. The device makes use of supramolecular nanofibers
obtained from the self-assembly of donor–acceptor (D–A)
molecules, coronene tetracarboxylate salt (CS) and dodecyl methyl
viologen (DMV), respectively, from aqueous medium. The fibers, while
being highly sensitive to humidity, tend to develop electrically induced
disorder under constant voltage, leading to increased resistance with
time. The conducting state can be regained via self-assembly by exposing
the device to humidity in the absence of applied voltage, the extent
of recovery depending on the magnitude of the humidity applied under
no bias. This nature of the fibers has been exploited in reading the
humidity memory state, which interestingly is independent of the lapsed
time since the humidity exposure as well as the duration of exposure.
Importantly, the device is capable of differentiating the profiles
of varying humidity conditions from its memory. The device finds use
in applications requiring stringent condition monitoring
Ambient Stable Tetragonal and Orthorhombic Phases in Penta-Twinned Bipyramidal Au Microcrystals
Face-centered
cubic (fcc) lattice is the only known crystal structure
of bulk gold. In the present work, we report the presence of body-centered
tetragonal (bct) and body-centered orthorhombic (bco) phases in bipyramidal
Au microcrystals with penta-twinned tips. These microcrystals have
been obtained by thermolysis of (AuCl<sub>4</sub>)<sup>−</sup> stabilized with tetraoctylammonium bromide (ToABr) in air at about
220 °C for 30 min. Using a laboratory monochromatic X-ray source,
the non-fcc phases could be readily detected. The remarkable occurrence
of non-fcc phases of Au grown in the temperature window of 200–250
°C results from the geometrically induced strains in the bipyramids.
Having derived first-principles theoretical support for the temperature-dependent
stability of non-fcc Au structures under stress, we identify its origin
in <i>soft</i> modes. Annealing at high temperatures relieves
the stress, thus destabilizing the non-fcc phases
Transparent Pd Wire Network-Based Areal Hydrogen Sensor with Inherent Joule Heater
A high
degree of transparency in devices is considered highly desirable
for futuristic technology. This demands that both the active material
and the electrodes are made of transparent materials. In this work,
a transparent Pd wire network (∼1 cm<sup>2</sup>), fabricated
using crackle lithography technique with sheet resistance and transmittance
of ∼200 Ohm per square and ∼80%, respectively,
serves multiple roles; besides being an electrode, it acts as an active
material for H<sub>2</sub> sensing as well as an in-built electrothermal
heater. The sensor works over a wide range of hydrogen (H<sub>2</sub>) concentration down to 0.02% with a response time of ∼41
s, which could be improved to ∼13 s by in situ Joule heating
to ∼75 °C. Importantly, the device has the potential of
scale-up to a window size transparent panel and to be flexible when
desired
Intrinsic Nature of Graphene Revealed in Temperature-Dependent Transport of Twisted Multilayer Graphene
Graphene
in its purest form is expected to exhibit a semiconducting to metallic
transition in its temperature-dependent conductivity as a result of
the interplay between Coulomb disorder and phonon scattering, the
transition temperature, <i>T</i><sub>c</sub>, depending
sensitively on the disorder induced carrier density (<i>n</i><sub>c</sub>). Even for good quality graphene, the <i>n</i><sub>c</sub> can be quite high (∼10<sup>12</sup> cm<sup>–2</sup>) and the transition temperature may be placed well above the ambient,
practically rendering it to be only semiconducting over a wide range
of temperature. Here we report an experimental study on the transport
behavior of twisted multilayer graphene (tMLG) exhibiting <i>T</i><sub>c</sub> well below the ambient temperature. The graphene
layers in these tMLG are highly decoupled with one another due to
the angular rotation among them; as a result, they exhibit very high
Raman I<sub>2D</sub>/I<sub>G</sub> values (up to 12) with narrow 2D width (16–24 cm<sup>–1</sup>). The observed <i>T</i><sub>c</sub> values
seem to go hand in hand with the Raman I<sub>2D</sub>/I<sub>G</sub> values; a multilayer with
mean I<sub>2D</sub>/I<sub>G</sub> value of 4.6 showed a <i>T</i><sub>c</sub> of
180 K, while that with mean I<sub>2D</sub>/I<sub>G</sub> of 4.9 showed lower a <i>T</i><sub>c</sub> of 160 K. Further, another multilayer with even higher
mean I<sub>2D</sub>/I<sub>G</sub> value of 6.9 was metallic down to 5 K, indicating a very
low disorder. The photoresponse behavior also corroborates well with
the transition in transport behavior
Highly Decoupled Graphene Multilayers: Turbostraticity at its Best
The
extraordinary properties of graphene are truly observable when
it is suspended, being free from any substrate influence. Here, a
new type of multilayer graphene is reported wherein each layer is
turbostratically decoupled, resembling suspended graphene in nature,
while maintaining high degree of 2D crystallinity. Such defect-free
graphene multilayers have been made over large areas by Joule heating
of a Ni foil coated with a solid hydrocarbon. Raman spectra measured
on thick flakes of turbostratically single layer graphene (T-SLG)
(100–250 nm) have shown characteristics similar to suspended
graphene with very narrow 2D bands (∼16 cm<sup>–1</sup>) and <i>I</i><sub>2D</sub>/<i>I</i><sub>G</sub> ratios up to 7.4, importantly with no D band intensity. Electron
diffraction patterns showed sets of diffraction spots spread out with
definite angular spacings, reminiscent of the angular deviations from
the AB packing which are responsible for keeping the layers decoupled.
The <i>d</i>-spacing derived from X-ray diffraction was
larger (by ∼0.04 Å) compared to that in graphite. Accordingly,
the <i>c</i>-axis resistance values were three orders higher,
suggesting that the layers are indeed electronically decoupled. The
high 2D crystallinity observed along with the decoupled nature should
accredit the observed graphene species as a close cousin of suspended
graphene
Spray Coating of Crack Templates for the Fabrication of Transparent Conductors and Heaters on Flat and Curved Surfaces
Transparent conducting electrodes
(TCEs) have been made on flat, flexible, and curved surfaces, following
a crack template method in which a desired surface was uniformly spray-coated
with a crackle precursor (CP) and metal (Ag) was deposited by vacuum
evaporation. An acrylic resin (CP1) and a SiO<sub>2</sub> nanoparticle-based
dispersion (CP2) derived from commercial products served as CPs to
produce U-shaped cracks in highly interconnected networks. The crack
width and the density could be controlled by varying the spray conditions,
resulting in varying template thicknesses. By depositing Ag in the
crack regions of the templates, we have successfully produced Ag wire
network TCEs on flat-flexible PET sheets, cylindrical glass tube,
flask and lens surface with transmittance up to 86%, sheet resistance
below 11 Ω/□ for electrothermal application. When used
as a transparent heater by joule heating of the Ag network, AgCP1
and AgCP2 on PET showed high thermal resistance values of 515 and
409 °C cm<sup>2</sup>/W, respectively, with fast response (<20
s), requiring only low voltages (<5 V) to achieve uniform temperatures
of ∼100 °C across large areas. Similar was the performance
of the transparent heater on curved glass surfaces. Spray coating
in the context of crack template is a powerful method for producing
transparent heaters, which is shown for the first time in this work.
AgCP1 with an invisible wire network is suited for use in proximity
while AgCP2 wire network is ideal for use in large area displays viewed
from a distance. Both exhibited excellent defrosting performance,
even at cryogenic temperatures
Microscopic Evaluation of Electrical and Thermal Conduction in Random Metal Wire Networks
Ideally,
transparent heaters exhibit uniform temperature, fast
response time, high achievable temperatures, low operating voltage,
stability across a range of temperatures, and high optical transmittance.
For metal network heaters, unlike for uniform thin-film heaters, all
of these parameters are directly or indirectly related to the network
geometry. In the past, at equilibrium, the temperature distributions
within metal networks have primarily been studied using either a physical
temperature probe or direct infrared (IR) thermography, but there
are limits to the spatial resolution of these cameras and probes,
and thus, only average regional temperatures have typically been measured.
However, knowledge of local temperatures within the network with a
very high spatial resolution is required for ensuring a safe and stable
operation. Here, we examine the thermal properties of random metal
network thin-film heaters fabricated from crack templates using high-resolution
IR microscopy. Importantly, the heaters achieve predominantly uniform
temperatures throughout the substrate despite the random crack network
structure (e.g., unequal sized polygons created by metal wires), but
the temperatures of the wires in the network are observed to be significantly
higher than the substrate because of the significant thermal contact
resistance at the interface between the metal and the substrate. Last,
the electrical breakdown mechanisms within the network are examined
through transient IR imaging. In addition to experimental measurements
of temperatures, an analytical model of the thermal properties of
the network is developed in terms of geometrical parameters and material
properties, providing insights into key design rules for such transparent
heaters. Beyond this work, the methods and the understanding developed
here extend to other network-based heaters and conducting films, including
those that are not transparent
Flexible Palladium-Based H<sub>2</sub> Sensor with Fast Response and Low Leakage Detection by Nanoimprint Lithography
Flexible
palladium-based H<sub>2</sub> sensors have a great potential
in advanced sensing applications, as they offer advantages such as
light
weight, space conservation, and mechanical durability. Despite these
advantages,
the paucity of such sensors is due to the fact that they are difficult
to fabricate while maintaining excellent sensing performance. Here,
we demonstrate,
using direct nanoimprint lithography of palladium, the fabrication
of a flexible, durable, and fast responsive H<sub>2</sub> sensor that
is capable of detecting H<sub>2</sub> gas concentration as low as
50 ppm. High resolution and high throughput patterning of palladium
gratings over a 2 cm × 1 cm area on a rigid substrate was achieved
by heat-treating nanoimprinted
palladium benzyl mercaptide at 250 °C for 1 h. The flexible and
robust H<sub>2</sub> sensing device was fabricated
by subsequent transfer nanoimprinting of these gratings into a polycarbonate
film at its glass transition temperature. This technique produces
flexible H<sub>2</sub> sensors with improved durability, sensitivity,
and response time in comparison to palladium thin films. At ambient
pressure and temperature, the device showed a fast response time of
18 s at a H<sub>2</sub> concentration of 3500 ppm. At 50 ppm concentration,
the response time was found to be 57 s. The flexibility of the sensor
does not appear to compromise its performance
Extraordinarily Stable Noncubic Structures of Au: A High-Pressure and -Temperature Study
Although the stability
of Au in the face-centered cubic (FCC) phase
at high temperatures and pressures has been well studied, the stability
in other lattice phases rarely encountered in crystallite domains
in microscopy studies has not been explored much because of their
nanometric extensions. A recent report on Au microcrystallites crystallized
in body-centered tetragonal (BCT) and body-centered orthorhombic (BCO)
phases prompted the work presented here, in which we have investigated
for the first time the structural stability of the BCT and BCO phases
at high temperatures and separately at high pressures using high-energy
synchrotron X-ray diffraction. A reversible phase transition was observed
for pressures of up to ∼40 GPa, indicating unusual stability
of the non-FCC Au phases. However, during a high-temperature treatment
at ∼700 °C, the transformation to FCC was irreversible