Integrated luminescent chemical microsensors based on GaN LEDs for security applications using smartphones

Development of PCB-integrateable microsensors for monitoring chemical species is a goal in areas such as lab-on-a-chip analytical devices, diagnostics medicine and electronics for hand-held instruments where the device size is a major issue. Cellular phones have pervaded the world inhabitants and their usefulness has dramatically increased with the introduction of smartphones due to a combination of amazing processing power in a confined space, geolocalization and manifold telecommunication features. Therefore, a number of physical and chemical sensors that add value to the terminal for health monitoring, personal safety (at home, at work) and, eventually, national security have started to be developed, capitalizing also on the huge number of circulating cell phones. The chemical sensor-enabled “super” smartphone provides a unique (bio)sensing platform for monitoring airborne or waterborne hazardous chemicals or microorganisms for both single user and crowdsourcing security applications. Some of the latest ones are illustrated by a few examples. Moreover, we have recently achieved for the first time (covalent) functionalization of p- and n-GaN semiconductor surfaces with tuneable luminescent indicator dyes of the Ru-polypyridyl family, as a key step in the development of innovative microsensors for smartphone applications. Chemical “sensoring” of GaN-based blue LED chips with those indicators has also been achieved by plasma treatment of their surface, and the micrometer-sized devices have been tested to monitor O2 in the gas phase to show their full functionality. Novel strategies to enhance the sensor sensitivity such as changing the length and nature of the siloxane buffer layer are discussed in this paper

El uso del Campus Virtual como herramienta clave para la adquisición de competencias por el alumnado y para el seguimiento de la calidad de la docencia impartida

La utilización del Campus Virtual como espacio compartido entre estudiantes, profesores e instituciones lo convierte hoy en día en una herramienta clave para la estructuración y puesta en práctica de las asignaturas durante el curso académico. En este sentido, el uso del Campus Virtual ha de ser tenido en cuenta al principio, cuando se planea el desarrollo del curso y se elaboran los documentos y materiales didácticos que serán empleados, durante, pues además de servir para la mera distribución de dichos materiales, también debe ser considerado para la interrelación entre las distintas metodologías docentes usadas para la adquisición de competencias por los estudiantes y como apoyo para la evaluación formativa del alumnado, y después, ya que una vez concluido el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, el Campus Virtual se puede usar para que los equipos de profesores reciban una valoración global sobre el desarrollo de su asignatura, con objeto de mejorar la calidad de su trabajo. En este trabajo presentamos la estructura diseñada en el Campus Virtual de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid para la asignatura "Fotoquímica Orgánica", impartida en el segundo año del Máster Interuniversitario en Química Orgánica de las Universidades Complutense de Madrid, de Barcelona, de Santiago de Compostela y Autónoma de Madrid

Degradation of Hydrocarbon Fluids in the Immersion Lithography at 193 nm

The search for successful generation 3 immersion lithography fluids is focused on high refractive index fluids which are transparent to 193 nm light. This search has led to saturated hydrocarbons which have been shown potential in this field. This paper discusses our observations that many immersion fluid candidates (saturated hydrocarbons and acetonitrile) were observed to polymerize upon irradiation with 193 nm light