A sensitive charge scanning probe based on silicon single electron transistor

Single electron transistors（SETs） are known to be extremely sensitive electrometers owing to their high charge sensitivity. In this work, we report the design, fabrication, and characterization of a silicon-on-insulatorbased SET scanning probe. The fabricated SET is located about 10 m away from the probe tip. The SET with a quantum dot of about 70 nm in diameter exhibits an obvious Coulomb blockade effect measured at 4.1 K. The Coulomb blockade energy is about 18 me V, and the charge sensitivity is in the order of 10^-（5）–10（^-3）e/Hz^（1/2）. This SET scanning probe can be used to map charge distribution and sense dynamic charge fluctuation in nanodevices or circuits under test, realizing high sensitivity and high spatial resolution charge detection.

Specific detection and effective inhibition of a single bacterial species in situ using peptide mineralized Au cluster probes

Increasingly serious microbial infections call for the development of new simpler methods for the precise diagnosis and specific inhibition of such pathogens. In this work, a peptide mineralized Au cluster probe was applied as a new simplified strategy to both recognize and inhibit a single bacteria species of Staphylococcus aureus(S. aureus) simultaneously. The probes are composed of peptides and Au clusters. Moreover, the peptides specifically target S. aureus cells and the Au clusters provide fluorescent imaging and have an antibacterial effect. These new probes enable the simultaneous specific detection and effective destruction S. aureus cells in situ.

Assessing stress conditions and impact velocities in fluidized bed opposed jet mills

Fluidized bed opposed jet mills are capable of meeting the continuously growing dema nd for contamination-free fine particles.In this type of jet mill,the solid material is entrained and accelerated by expanding gas jets that are focused onto a focal point in side a fluidized bed.The resulting particle collisions induce breakage.The process is affected by the relative particle velocities and the number of particle-particle collisions.Clearly,both quantities are distributed.However,to date,neither relative particle velocities nor collision frequencies in such units have been determined.The present work introduces an innovative method to assess the stressing conditions in jet mills experimentally.To this end,mixtures of glass and ductile metal microspheres were used,with the latter employed in small amounts.Inter-particle collisions between the aluminum and glass spheres lead to the formation of dents on the microparticles.The size and number of these dents are associated with the individual collision velocities and overall collision frequencies.The correlation between dent size and collision velocity was obtained from finite element calculations based on empirical data.The proposed approach was validated using particle image velocimetry during secondary gas injection into a fluidized bed reactor.In this case the effect of the distance between two opposed nozzles was examined.For a lab-scaled fluidized bed opposed jet mill the effects of gas pressure and hold-up were investigated.Relative particle velocities were found to be sign ificantly lower tha n the gas velocities,while the nu mber of contacts per particle was determined to be extremely high.