Highly Sensitive Detection of Deoxyribonucleic Acid Hybridization Using Au-Gated AlInN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor-Based Sensors

Gallium nitride- （GaN） based high electron mobility transistors （HEMTs） provide a good platform for biological detection. In this work, both Au-gated AlInN/GaN HEMT and AlGaN/GaN HEMT biosensors are fabricated for the detection of deoxyribonucleic acid （DNA） hybridization. The Au-gated AIInN/GaN HEMT biosensor exhibits higher sensitivity in comparison with the AlGaN/GaN HEMT biosensor. For the former, the drain-source current （VDS = 0.5 V） shows a clear decrease of 69μA upon the introduction of 1μmolL^-1 （μM） complimentary DNA to the probe DNA at the sensor area, while for the latter it is only 38 μA. This current reduction is a notable indication of the hybridization. The high sensitivity can be attributed to the thinner barrier of the AlInN/GaN heterostructure, which makes the two-dimensional electron gas channel more susceptible to a slight change of the surface charge.

A target group tracking algorithm based on a hybrid sensor network

Traditional tracking algorithms based on static sensors have several problems. First, the targets only occur in a part of the interested area; however, a large number of static sensors are distributed in the area to guarantee entire coverage, which leads to wastage of sensor resources. Second, many static sensors have to remain in active mode to track the targets, which causes an increase of energy consumption. To solve these problems, a target group tracking algorithm based on a hybrid sensor network is proposed in this paper, which includes static sensors and mobile sensors. First, an estimation algorithm is proposed to estimate the objective region by static sensors, which work in low-power sensing mode. Second, a movement algorithm based on sliding windows is proposed for mobile sensors to obtain the destinations. Simulation results show that this algorithm can reduce the number of mobile sensors participating in the tracking task and prolong the network lifetime.

Highly sensitive hybrid nanofiber-based room-temperature CO sensors： Experiments and density functional theory simulations

Chemical sensors （CSs） are an emerging area in nanoscience research, which focuses on the highly sensitive detection of toxic and hazardous gases and disease- related volatile organics. While the field has advanced rapidly in recent years, it lacks the theoretical support required for the rational design of innovative materials with tunable measurement responses. Herein, we present a one-dimensional （1D） hybrid nanofiber decorated with ultrafine NiO nanoparticles （NiO NPs） as an efficient active component for CSs. Highly dispersed （110）-facet NiO NPs with a high percentage of Ni2~ active sites with unsaturated coordination were confined in a TiO2 nanofiber （TiO2 NF） matrix that is favorable for surface catalytic reactions. The CSs constructed using the 1D heterostructure NiO/TiO2 nanofibers （NiOdrio2 HNFs） exhibited a highly selective response to trace CO gas molecules （1 ppm） with high sensitivity （AR/Ro = 1.02）, ultrafast response/ recovery time （T 〈 20 s）, and remarkable reproducibility at room tem- perature. The density functional theory （DFT） simulations and experimental results confirmed that the selective response could be attributed to the high molecular adsorption energy of the NiO nanoparticles with （110） facets and abundant interfaces, which act synergistically to promote CO adsorption and facilitate charge transfer.

EFPI-FBG hybrid sensor for simultaneous measurement of high temperature and large strain

We report an extrinsic Fabry Perot interferometer-fiber Bragg grating （EFPI-FBG） hybrid sensor in this letter. The interferometric cavity of the proposed hybrid sensor is composed of a glass capillary tube, a section of single-mode fiber, and a section of single-mode metal fiber with one FBG. The FBG processed by high-temperature annealing is used to measure temperature, whereas the fiber EFPI is adopted for strain measurement. One of the two aligned fibers is free along the axial direction, which is different from the traditional structure that both the fibers are fixed to glass capillary tube. Experimental results show that the sensor can measure high temperature and large strain simultaneously. The measuring range of temperature and strain for the hybrid sensor is up to 500℃ and 10,000μs, respectively. Effective temperature compensation of the hybrid sensor is realized, too.

Direct Electrochemical Detection of Oligonucleotide Hybridization on Poly（thionine） Film

In this work, the application of a conducting polymer, poly（thionine）, modified electrode as matrix to DNA immobilization as well as transducer to label-free DNA hybridization detection was introduced. The electropolymerization of thionine onto electrode surface was carried out by a simple two-step method, which involved a preanodization of glassy carbon electrode at a constant positive potential in thionine solution following cyclic voltammetry scans in the solution. Electrochemical detection was performed by differential pulse voltammetry in the electroactivity potential domain of poly（thionine）. The resulting poly（thionine） modified electrode showed a good stability and electroactivity in aqueous media during a near neutral pH range. Additionally, the pendant amino groups on the poly（thionine） chains enabled poly（thionine） modified electrode to immobilize phosphate group terminated DNA probe via covalent linkage. Hybridization process induced a clear decrease in poly（thionine） redox current, which was corresponding to the decrease in poly（thionine） electroactivity after double stranded DNA was formed on the polymer film. The detection limit of this electrochemical DNA hybridization sensor was 1.0 × 10^-10mol/L. Compared with complementary sequence, the hybridization signal values of 1-base mismatched and 3-base mismatched samples were 63.9% and 9.2%, respectively.

Hybrid fiber Bragg grating sensor for vibration and temperature monitoring of a train bearing

We report a fiber Bragg grating（FBG）-based sensor for the simultaneous measurement of a train bearing’s vibration and temperature. A pre-stretched optical fiber with an FBG and a mass is designed for axial vibration sensing. Another multiplexed FBG is embedded in a selected copper-based alloy with a high thermal expansion to detect temperature. Experiments show that the sensor possesses a high resonant frequency of 970 Hz, an acceleration sensitivity of 27.28 pm/g, and a high temperature sensitivity of 35.165 pm/℃. A resonant excitation test is also carried out that demonstrates the robustness and reliability of the sensor.

Anion/Cation (H_2PO_4^- and Fe^(3+)) induced dual luminescence quenching effect based on terbium solid sensor

An investigation on the photophysical properties of the newly designed terbium imidazole-4,5-dicarboxylic acid complex encapsulated in the inert matrices (tetraethoxysilane, TEOS) was performed. The composite material was very stable and showed strong green emission in pure water. Interestingly, we discovered that the luminescence of hybrid material was selectively responsive to H2PO4-. 1H-NMR and fluorescence spectra supported that the receptor had strong affinity to dihydrogen phosphate. Meanwhile, the luminescence was quenched by Fe3+ when adding different metal ions such as Fe3+, Pd2+, Cd2+, Co2+ and Mn2+ concomitantly. Moreover, thin film was successfully pre-pared by the same materials and it also exhibited selective recognition behavior to the above two ions.