Near-IR absorbing tetraene-linked π-conjugated porous polymers for energy storage and electrical conductivity.

Tetraene-linked diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-based CMPs were developed Knoevenagel condensation of ditopic active hydrogen containing DPP with tritopic aryl aldehydes. The "tetra-ene" π-arrangement in the molecular framework promotes uninterrupted π-delocalization, resulting in near-infrared (NIR) absorption (∼red edge of 1200 nm), high electrical conductivity in the pristine (10 S m) and doped states (0.2 S m), and moderate energy storage (70 F g).

Multiplex electrochemical sensing platforms for the detection of breast cancer biomarkers.

Herein, advancements in electroanalytical devices for the simultaneous detection of diverse breast cancer (BC) markers are demonstrated. This article identifies several important areas of exploration for electrochemical diagnostics and highlights important factors that are pivotal for the successful deployment of novel bioanalytical devices. We have highlighted that the limits of detection (LOD) reported for the multiplex electrochemical biosensor can surpass the sensitivity displayed by current clinical standards such as ELISA, FISH, and PCR.

Electrochemical Detection of Using a Biomimetic Flow Cell System.

Lyme disease, caused by infection with pathogenic bacteria, has emerged as a pervasive illness throughout North America and many other regions of the world in recent years, owing in part to climate-mediated habitat expansion of the tick vectors. Standard diagnostic testing has remained largely unchanged over the past several decades and is indirect, relying on detection of antibodies against the pathogen, rather than detection of the pathogen itself. The development of new rapid, point-of-care tests for Lyme disease that directly detects the pathogen could drastically improve patient health by enabling faster and more frequent testing that could better inform patient treatment.

Innovations and Challenges in Electroanalytical Tools for Rapid Biosurveillance of SARS-CoV-2.

Since the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, preventive social paradigms and vaccine development have undergone serious renovations, which drastically reduced the viral spread and increased collective immunity. Although the technological advancements in diagnostic systems for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) detection are groundbreaking, the lack of sensitive, robust, and consumer-end point-of-care (POC) devices with smartphone connectivity are conspicuously felt. Despite its revolutionary impact on biotechnology and molecular diagnostics, the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction technique as the gold standard in COVID-19 diagnosis is not suitable for rapid testing.

Heterometallic cobalt(ii) calix[6 and 8]arenes: synthesis, structure and electrochemical activity.

Heterometallic cobalt -butylcalix[6 and 8]arenes have been generated from the reaction of lithium reagents (-BuLi or -BuOLi) or NaH with the parent calix[]arene and subsequent reaction with CoBr. The reverse route, involving the addition of generated Li[Co(O-Bu)] to -butylcalix[6 and 8]arene, has also been investigated. X-ray crystallography reveals the formation of complicated products incorporating differing numbers of cobalt and lithium or sodium centers, often with positional disorder, as well as, in some cases, the retention of halide.

Breast Cancer Aptamers: Current Sensing Targets, Available Aptamers, and Their Evaluation for Clinical Use in Diagnostics.

Breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in women worldwide, and the rate of diagnosis continues to increase. Early detection and targeted treatment towards histological type is crucial to improving outcomes, but current screening methods leave some patients at risk of late diagnosis. The risk of late diagnosis and progressed disease is of particular concern for young women as current screening methods are not recommended early in life.

Van der Waals Heterostructures-Recent Progress in Electrode Materials for Clean Energy Applications.

The unique layered morphology of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures give rise to a blended set of electrochemical properties from the 2D sheet components. Herein an overview of their potential in energy storage systems in place of precious metals is conducted. The most recent progress on vdW electrocatalysis covering the last three years of research is evaluated, with an emphasis on their catalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER).

The electrochemical detection of bioterrorism agents: a review of the detection, diagnostics, and implementation of sensors in biosafety programs for Class A bioweapons.

During the past year, disease has shown us the iron grip it can hold over a population of people. Health systems can be overwhelmed, economies can be brought into recession, and many people can be harmed or killed. When weaponized, diseases can be manipulated to create a detriment to health while becoming an economic burden on any society.

Lyme Disease Biosensors: A Potential Solution to a Diagnostic Dilemma.

Over the past four decades, Lyme disease has remained a virulent and pervasive illness, persisting throughout North America and many other regions of the world. Recent increases in illness in many countries has sparked a renewed interest in improved Lyme diagnostics. While current standards of diagnosis are acceptable for the late stages of the disease, it remains difficult to accurately diagnose early forms of the illness.

Polypyrrole decorated metal-organic frameworks for supercapacitor devices.

Due to their large specific surface areas and porosity, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have found many applications in catalysis, gas separation, and gas storage. However, their use as electronic components such as supercapacitors is stunted due to their poor electrical conductivity. We report a remedy for this by combining the MOF structure with polypyrrole (PPy), a well-known conductive polymer.

Flexible Electrode Based on MWCNT Embedded in a Cross-Linked Acrylamide/Alginate Blend: Conductivity vs. Stretching.

A polyacrylamide-alginate hydrogel electrolyte, blended with Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT) as an electronically conductive fraction, allows for the creation of a flexible, durable, and resilient electrode. The MWCNT content is correlated with mechanical characteristics such as stretch modulus, tensile resistance, and electrical conductivity. The mechanical analysis demonstrates tensile strength that is comparable to similar hydrogels reported in the literature, with increasing strength for MWCNT-embedded hydrogels.

Nanostructured CuO Synthesized via Bipolar Electrochemistry.

Cuprous oxide (CuO) was synthesized for the first time via an open bipolar electrochemistry (BPE) approach and characterized in parallel with the commercially available material. As compared to the reference, CuO formed through a BPE reaction demonstrated a decrease in particle size; an increase in photocurrent; more efficient light scavenging; and structure-correlated changes in the flat band potential and charge carrier concentration. More importantly, as-synthesized oxides were all phase-pure, defect-free, and had an average crystallite size of 20 nm.

Structure of Ni(OH) intermediates determines the efficiency of NiO-based photocathodes - a case study using novel mesoporous NiO nanostars.

We report the wet chemical synthesis of mesoporous NiO nanostars (NS) as photocathode material for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The growth mechanism of NiO NS as a new morphology of NiO is assessed by TEM and spectroscopic investigations. The NiO NS are obtained upon annealing of preformed β-Ni(OH) into pristine NiO with low defect concentrations and favorable electronic configuration for dye sensitization.

ZnO Synthesized Using Bipolar Electrochemistry: Structure and Activity.

The photoactive materials broadly applied in catalysis and energy conversion are generally composed of metal oxides. Among these oxides, ZnO showed a promising photocatalytic activity; however, traditional synthetic routes generated by-products and large amounts of secondary waste. Herein, we report the use of bipolar electrochemistry to generate ZnO nanoparticles using deionized water and a zinc metal to conform to green chemistry practices.

Vanadyl sulfates: molecular structure, magnetism and electrochemical activity.

Reaction of differing amounts of vanadyl sulfate with p-tert-butylthiacalix[4]areneH4 and base allows access to the vanadyl-sulfate species [NEt4]4[(VO)4(μ3-OH)4(SO4)4]·½H2O (1), [HNEt3]5[(VO)5(μ3-O)4(SO4)4]·4MeCN (2·4MeCN) and [NEt4]2[(VO)6(O)2(SO4)4(OMe)(OH2)]·MeCN (3·MeCN). Similar use of p-tert-butylsulfonylcalix[4]areneH4, p-tert-butylcalix[8]areneH8 or p-tert-butylhexahomotrioxacalix[3]areneH3 led to the isolation of [HNEt3]2[H2NEt2]2{[VO(OMe)]2p-tert-butylcalix[8-SO2]areneH2} (4), [HNEt3]2[V(O)2p-tert-butylcalix[8]areneH5] (5) and [HNEt3]2[VIV2VV4O11(OMe)8] (6), respectively. Dc magnetic susceptibility measurements were performed on powdered microcrystalline samples of 1-3 in the T = 300-2 K temperature range.

Biomass-derived nanostructured carbons and their composites as anode materials for lithium ion batteries.

Since ever-increasing energy demands stimulated intensive research activities on lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), biomass as an earth-abundant renewable energy source has played an intriguing and promising role in developing sustainable biomass-derived carbons and their composite materials for high-performance LIB anodes. Different from other materials (e.g.

Synthesis of Electrical Conductive Silica Nanofiber/Gold Nanoparticle Composite by Laser Pulses and Sputtering Technique.

Biocompatible-sensing materials hold an important role in biomedical applications where there is a need to translate biological responses into electrical signals. Increasing the biocompatibility of these sensing devices generally causes a reduction in the overall conductivity due to the processing techniques. Silicon is becoming a more feasible and available option for use in these applications due to its semiconductor properties and availability.

ZnO Nanostructures for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Using the TEMPO /TEMPO Redox Mediator and Ruthenium(II) Photosensitizers with 1,2,3-Triazole-Derived Ligands.

A series of thiocyanate-free bis(tridentate) ruthenium(II) complexes incorporating 1,2,3-triazole-derived NNN-, NCN-, and CNC-coordinating ligands has been employed for sensitizing ZnO photoanodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Additionally, the first use of the TEMPO /TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-piperidine-1-oxyl) redox mediator as a surrogate for the I /I redox couple in ZnO nanostructured DSSCs is presented. Compared with I /I -based electrolytes, shorter charge lifetimes and diffusion lengths were determined for the TEMPO /TEMPO-based electrolyte.

Specific Surface versus Electrochemically Active Area of the Carbon/Polypyrrole Capacitor: Correlation of Ion Dynamics Studied by an Electrochemical Quartz Crystal Microbalance with BET Surface.

Carbon/polypyrrole (PPy) composites are promising electrode materials for energy storage applications such as lightweight capacitors. Although these materials are composed of relatively inexpensive components, there is a gap of knowledge regarding the correlation between surface, porosity, ion exchange dynamics, and the interplay of the double layer capacitance and pseudocapacitance. In this work we evaluate the specific surface area analyzed by the BET method and the area accessible for ions using electrochemical quartz-crystal microbalance (EQCM) for SWCNT/PPy and carbon black Vulcan XC72-R/PPy composites.

Micropatterns of [Fe-Fe]-Hydrogenase Active-Site Model Complexes Fabricated by Electro-Oxidative Lithography.

[Fe-Fe]-hydrogenase active site model complexes ([Fe(CO)3]2[(μ-SCH2)2C(CH2OH)2]) were immobilized on micropatterned n-octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) monolayers deposited on a Si substrate to form a microscale catalytic system. The micropatterns were generated by electro-oxidative lithography performed with a conductive TEM grid. The [Fe-Fe]-hydrogenase active-site complex molecules were selectively anchored in lithographic line areas with good coverage.

The correlation of the binding mechanism of the polypyrrole-carbon capacitive interphase with electrochemical stability of the composite electrode.

Carbon-polymer composites have great application potential in the field of organic batteries, capacitors, capacitive water desalination reactors and as the conductive platforms for electrochemical sensors. Although numerous studies have been carried out with respect to the synthesis, the optimization of composition, the carbon type and the morphology control, there is still a lack of understanding about which kind of intermolecular connection between carbon and polymer phases is preferential, and how the system should be designed to achieve the application demand of long-term electrochemical stability. Herein, we propose two model systems that employ the most well-known commercial carbons (SWCNTs and carbon black Vulcan XC72-R) to generate polypyrrole-C composites and validate the type of chemical bonding that is preferential to maintain electrochemical stability.

Sonoelectrochemical degradation of triclosan in water.

The sonoelectrochemical degradation of triclosan in aqueous solutions with high-frequency ultrasound (850kHz) and various electrodes was investigated. Diamond coated niobium electrode showed the best results and was used as standard electrode, leading to effective degradation and positive synergistic effect. The influence of different parameters on the degradation degree and energy efficiency were evaluated and favorable reaction conditions were found.

Modelling of the impedimetric responses of an aflatoxin B(1) immunosensor prepared on an electrosynthetic polyaniline platform.

Aflatoxins are a group of mycotoxins that have deleterious effects on humans and are produced during fungal infection of plants or plant products. An electrochemical immunosensor for the determination of aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1)) was developed with AFB(1)antibody (AFB(1)-Ab) immobilized on Pt electrodes modified with polyaniline (PANi) and polystyrene sulphonic acid (PSSA). Impedimetric analysis shows that the electron transfer resistances of the Pt/PANi-PSSA electrode, the Pt/PANi-PSSA/AFB(1)-Ab immunosensor and Pt/PANi-PSSA/AFB(1)-Ab incubated in bovine serum albumin (BSA) were 0.