Graphene-enabled electrically switchable radar-absorbing surfaces

Radar-absorbing materials are used in stealth technologies for concealment of an object from radar detection. Resistive and/or magnetic composite materials are used to reduce the backscattered microwave signals. Inability to control electrical properties of these materials, however, hinders the realization of active camouflage systems. Here, using large-area graphene electrodes, we demonstrate active surfaces that enable electrical control of reflection, transmission and absorption of microwaves. Instead of tuning bulk material property, our strategy relies on electrostatic tuning of the charge density on an atomically thin electrode, which operates as a tunable metal in microwave frequencies. Notably, we report large-area adaptive radar-absorbing surfaces with tunable reflection suppression ratio up to 50 dB with operation voltages <5 V. Using the developed surfaces, we demonstrate various device architectures including pixelated and curved surfaces. Our results provide a significant step in realization of active camouflage systems in microwave frequencies. © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

Probing molecular interactions on carbon nanotube surfaces using surface plasmon resonance sensors

In this work, we present a method to probe molecular interactions on single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) surfaces using a surface plasmon sensor. SWNT networks were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition and transfer-printed on gold surfaces. We studied the excitation of surface plasmon-polaritons on nanotube coated gold surfaces with sub-monolayer, monolayer, and multilayer surface coverage. Integrating the fabricated sensor with a microfluidic device, we were able to obtain binding dynamics of a bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein on SWNT networks with various tube densities. The results reveal the kinetic parameters for nonspecific binding of BSA on SWNT coated surfaces having various tube densities. © 2012 American Institute of Physics

Polypyrrole grafts with poly[(methyl methacrylate)-CO-(2-(N-pyrrolyl)ethyl methacrylate)]

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Conducting polymer grafts of pyrrole and poly[(methyl methacrylate)-co-(2- (N-pyrrolyl) ethyl methacrylate)] containing 0.7% PEMA units were prepared by potentiostatic anodic polymerization of pyrrole in different electrolytic media. Grafting between copolymer and pyrrole was achieved in media where tetrabutylammonium fluoroborate and sodium perchlorate were used as the supporting electrolytes. Characterizations were made by using IT-IR, DSC, TGA, SEM, CV, and elemental analysis. The conductivities of the resultant polymers seemed to be in the order of pure polypyrrole prepared under the same conditions. Copyright o 1997 Elsevier Scienc

Dynamic tuning of plasmon resonance in the visible using graphene

We report active electrical tuning of plasmon resonance of silver nanoprisms (Ag NPs) in the visible spectrum. Ag NPs are placed in close proximity to graphene which leads to additional tunable loss for the plasmon resonance. The ionic gating of graphene modifies its Fermi level from 0.2 to 1 eV, which then affects the absorption of graphene due to Pauli blocking. Plasmon resonance frequency and linewidth of Ag NPs can be reversibly shifted by 20 and 35 meV, respectively. The coupled graphene-Ag NPs system can be classically described by a damped harmonic oscillator model. Atomic layer deposition allows for controlling the graphene-Ag NP separation with atomic-level precision to optimize coupling between them. © 2016 Optical Society of America

Graphene as a Reversible and Spectrally Selective Fluorescence Quencher

We report reversible and spectrally selective fluorescence quenching of quantum dots (QDs) placed in close proximity to graphene. Controlling interband electronic transitions of graphene via electrostatic gating greatly modifies the fluorescence lifetime and intensity of nearby QDs via blocking of the nonradiative energy transfer between QDs and graphene. Using ionic liquid (IL) based electrolyte gating, we are able to control Fermi energy of graphene in the order of 1 eV, which yields electrically controllable fluorescence quenching of QDs in the visible spectrum. Indeed, our technique enables us to perform voltage controllable spectral selectivity among quantum dots at different emission wavelengths. We anticipate that our technique will provide tunable light-matter interaction and energy transfer that could yield hybrid QDs-graphene based optoelectronic devices with novel functionalities, and additionally, may be useful as a spectroscopic ruler, for example, in bioimaging and biomolecular sensing. We propose that graphene can be used as an electrically tunable and wavelength selective fluorescence quencher. � 2016 The Author(s)

Synthesis of Large Area Graphene for High Performance in Flexible Optoelectronic Devices

This work demonstrates an attractive low-cost route to obtain large area and high-quality graphene films by using the ultra-smooth copper foils which are typically used as the negative electrodes in lithium-ion batteries. We first compared the electronic transport properties of our new graphene film with the one synthesized by using commonly used standard copper foils in chemical vapor deposition (CVD). We observed a stark improvement in the electrical performance of the transistors realized on our graphene films. To study the optical properties on large area, we transferred CVD based graphene to transparent flexible substrates using hot lamination method and performed large area optical scanning. We demonstrate the promise of our high quality graphene films for large areas with ∼400 cm 2 flexible optical modulators. We obtained a profound light modulation over a broad spectrum by using the fabricated large area transparent graphene supercapacitors and we compared the performance of our devices with the one based on graphene from standard copper. We propose that the copper foils used in the lithium-ion batteries could be used to obtain high-quality graphene at much lower-cost, with the improved performance of electrical transport and optical properties in the devices made from them

Genetic Testing in Children with Epilepsy: Report of a Single-Center Experience

Background: Retrospective observational study to determine diagnostic yield and utility of genetic testing in children with epilepsy attending the Epilepsy Clinic at Children\u27s Hospital, London, Ontario, Canada. Methods: Children (birth-18 years) with epilepsy, who were seen in a 10-year period (January 1, 2008-March 31, 2018), were selected using defined inclusion criteria and by combining clinic datasets and laboratory records. Results: In total, 105 children (52.38% male and 47.61% female) with a variety of seizures were included in the analysis. Developmental delay was documented in the majority (83; 79.04%). Overall, a genetic diagnosis was established in 24 (22.85%) children. The diagnostic yield was highest for whole-exome sequencing (WES), at 35.71%. The yield from microarray was 8.33%. Yields of single-gene testing (18.60%) and targeted multigene panel testing (19.23%) were very similar. Several likely pathogenic and pathogenic variants not previously reported were identified and categorized using ACMG criteria. All diagnosed patients underwent a review of anti-seizure medication management and received counseling on natural history of their disease, possible complications, recurrence risks, and possibilities of preimplantation or prenatal genetic diagnosis. Conclusions: Our study confirms the multiple benefits of detecting a genetic etiology in children with epilepsy. Similar yields in single versus multigene testing underscore the importance of accurate clinical phenotyping. Patients with epilepsy and their caregivers in Ontario would undoubtedly benefit from repatriation of multigene panels and WES to the province

Weighing graphene with QCM to monitor interfacial mass changes

In this Letter, we experimentally determined the mass density of graphene using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) as a mechanical resonator. We developed a transfer printing technique to integrate large area single-layer graphene on QCM. By monitoring the resonant frequency of an oscillating quartz crystal loaded with graphene, we were able to measure the mass density of graphene as ∼118 ng/cm2, which is significantly larger than the ideal graphene (∼76 ng/cm2) mainly due to the presence of wrinkles and organic/inorganic residues on graphene sheets. High sensitivity of the quartz crystal resonator allowed us to determine the number of graphene layers in a particular sample. Additionally, we extended our technique to probe interfacial mass variation during adsorption of biomolecules on graphene surface and plasma-assisted oxidation of graphene. © 2016 Author(s)