Innovative Nanosensor for Disease Diagnosis

Nitrogen-Doped Single Graphene Fiber with Platinum Water Dissociation Catalyst for Wearable Humidity Sensor

Humidity sensors are essential components in wearable electronics for monitoring of environmental condition and physical state. In this work, a unique humidity sensing layer composed of nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (nRGO) fiber on colorless polyimide film is proposed. Ultralong graphene oxide (GO) fibers are synthesized by solution assembly of large GO sheets assisted by lyotropic liquid crystal behavior. Chemical modification by nitrogen-doping is carried out under thermal annealing in H₂ (4%)/N₂ (96%) ambient to obtain highly conductive nRGO fiber. Very small (≈2 nm) Pt nanoparticles are tightly anchored on the surface of the nRGO fiber as water dissociation catalysts by an optical sintering process. As a result, nRGO fiber can effectively detect wide humidity levels in the range of 6.1-66.4% relative humidity (RH). Furthermore, a 1.36-fold higher sensitivity (4.51%) at 66.4% RH is achieved using a Pt functionalized nRGO fiber (i.e., Pt-nRGO fiber) compared with the sensitivity (3.53% at 66.4% RH) of pure nRGO fiber. Real-time and portable humidity sensing characteristics are successfully demonstrated toward exhaled breath using Pt-nRGO fiber integrated on a portable sensing module. The Pt-nRGO fiber with high sensitivity and wide range of humidity detection levels offers a new sensing platform for wearable humidity sensors.

Nanoscale PtO2 Catalysts-Loaded SnO2 Multichannel Nanofibers toward Highly Sensitive Acetone Sensor

PtO₂ nanocatalysts-loaded SnO₂ multichannel nanofibers (PtO₂-SnO₂ MCNFs) were synthesized by single-spinneret electrospinning combined with apoferritin and two immiscible polymers, i.e., poly(vinylpyrrolidone) and polyacrylonitrile. The apoferritin, which can encapsulate nanoparticles within a small inner cavity (8 nm), was used as a catalyst loading template for an effective functionalization of the PtO₂ catalysts. Taking advantage of the multichannel structure with a high porosity, effective activation of catalysts on both interior and exterior site of MCNFs was realized. As a result, under high humidity condition (95% RH), PtO₂-SnO₂ MCNFs exhibited a remarkably high acetone response (R_air/R_gas = 194.15) toward 5 ppm acetone gases, superior selectivity to acetone molecules among various interfering gas species, and excellent stability during 30 cycles of response and recovery toward 1 ppm acetone gases. In this work, we first demonstrate the high suitability of multichannel semiconducting metal oxides structure functionalized by apoferritin-encapsulated catalytic nanoparticles as highly sensitive and selective gas-sensing layer.

Covalent Organic Frameworks: From Materials Design to Biomedical Application

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are newly emerged crystalline porous polymers with well-defined skeletons and nanopores mainly consisted of light-weight elements (H, B, C, N and O) linked by dynamic covalent bonds. Compared with conventional materials, COFs possess some unique and attractive features, such as large surface area, pre-designable pore geometry, excellent crystallinity, inherent adaptability and high flexibility in structural and functional design, thus exhibiting great potential for various applications. Especially, their large surface area and tunable porosity and π conjugation with unique photoelectric properties will enable COFs to serve as a promising platform for drug delivery, bioimaging, biosensing and theranostic applications. In this review, we trace the evolution of COFs in terms of linkages and highlight the important issues on synthetic method, structural design, morphological control and functionalization. And then we summarize the recent advances of COFs in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors and conclude with a discussion of the challenges and opportunities of COFs for biomedical purposes. Although currently still at its infancy stage, COFs as an innovative source have paved a new way to meet future challenges in human healthcare and disease theranostic.

Toward breath analysis on a chip for disease diagnosis using semiconductor-based chemiresistors: recent progress and future perspectives

Semiconductor gas sensors using metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, graphene-based materials, and metal chalcogenides have been reviewed from the viewpoint of the sensitive, selective, and reliable detection of exhaled biomarker gases, and perspectives/strategies to realize breath analysis on a chip for disease diagnosis are discussed based on the concurrent design of high-performance sensing materials and miniaturized pretreatment components. Carbon-based sensing materials that show relatively high responses to NO and NH₃ at low or mildly raised temperatures can be applied to the diagnosis of asthma and renal disease. Halitosis can be diagnosed by employing sensing or additive materials such as CuO and Mo that have high chemical affinities for H₂S, while catalyst-loaded metal oxide nanostructure sensors or their arrays have been used to diagnose diabetes via the selective detection of acetone or by pattern recognition of sensor signals. For the ultimate miniaturization of a breath-analysis system into a tiny chip, preconditioning that includes preconcentration, dehumidification, and flow sensing needs to be either improved through the design of gas/moisture adsorbents or removed/simplified through the design of highly sensitive sensing materials that are less impervious to interference from humidity and temperature. Moreover, an abundant sensing library needs to be provided for the diagnosis of diseases (e.g. lung cancer) that are associated with multiple biomarker gases and for finding new methods to diagnose other diseases. For this aim, p-type oxide semiconductors with high catalytic activities, as well as combinatorial approaches, can be considered for the development of sensing materials that detect less-reactive large molecules, and high-throughput screening, respectively. Selectivity for a specific biomarker gas will simplify the system further. Breath analysis on a tiny chip using semiconductor chemiresistors with ultralow power consumption that is connected to the 'Internet of Things' will pave new roads for disease diagnosis and patient monitoring.