Rationally designed graphene channels for real-time sodium ion detection for electronic tongue

Monitoring taste-inducing ions and molecules continuously in liquids or solutions is of great considerable matter for the realization of the electronic tongue(E-tongue).Particularly from the five major tastes,the highly selective,sensitive detection of Na^(+)in real-time is prioritized.Prioritization is due to the saltiness of food is the key ingredient in most meals.Nevertheless,existing Na^(+)detecting devices have relatively low performances of selectivity,sensitivity,and lack of on–off functions.Additionally,conventional devices significantly deteriorate in capac-ity due to repetitive usage or lifetime shortage by degradation of the sensing mate-rial.Herein,a graphene-based channel was rationally designed by the facile decoration of Calix[4]arene and Nafion to address this issue.They act as a receptor and a molecular sieve,respectively,to enhance selectivity and sensitivity and elon-gate the life expectancy of the device.This device was merged with a microfluidic channel to control the injection and withdrawal of solutions to fulfill dynamic on–off functions.The fabricated device has highly selective,sensitive Na^(+)detection properties compared to other 10 molecule/ionic species.Dynamic on–off functions of the device were available,also possesses a long lifespan of at least 220 days.Additionally,it can precisely discriminate real beverages containing Na^(+),which can be observed by principal component analysis plot.These features offer the possibility of ascending to a platform for E-tongues in near future.

Construction of highly accessible single Co site catalyst for glucose detection

The development of high-performance glucose sensors is an urgent need, especially for diabetes mellitus diagnosis. However, the glucose monitoring is conventionally operated in an invasive finger-prick manner and their noninvasive alternatives largely suffered from the relatively poor sensitivity, selectivity, and stability, resulted from the lack of robust and efficient catalysts. In this paper, we design a concave shaped nitrogen-doped carbon framework embellished with single Co site catalyst(Co SSC) by selectively controlling the etching rate on different facet of carbon substrate, which is beneficial to the diffusion and contact of analyte. The Co SSC prompts a significant improvement in the sensitivity of the solutiongated graphene transistor(SGGT) devices, with three orders of magnitude better than those of SGGT devices without catalysts. Our findings expand the field of single site catalyst in the application of biosensors, diabetes diagnostics and personalized health-care monitoring.