Early and high-throughput plant diagnostics: strategies for disease detection.

The rising global occurrence of plant pathogens highlights the need for a thorough reassessment of current disease detection and management schemes. To that end, we review the utility and limitations of the available sensing platforms deployed for phytodiagnostics in the field. We also discuss recent advances in the use of broad-spectrum biomarkers such as phytohormones and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and assess the feasibility of deploying these platforms on a large scale.

Molecularly imprinted polymers: A closer look at the template removal and analyte binding.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), which first appeared over half a century ago, are now attracting considerable attention as artificial receptors, particularly for sensing. MIPs, especially applied to biomedical analysis in biofluids, contribute significantly to patient diagnosis at the point of care, thereby allowing health monitoring. Despite the importance given to MIPs, removal of templates and binding of analytes have received little attention and are currently the least focused steps in MIP development.

Reconfigurable MIMO-based self-powered battery-less light communication system.

Simultaneous lightwave information and power transfer (SLIPT), co-existing with optical wireless communication, holds an enormous potential to provide continuous charging to remote Internet of Things (IoT) devices while ensuring connectivity. Combining SLIPT with an omnidirectional receiver, we can leverage a higher power budget while maintaining a stable connection, a major challenge for optical wireless communication systems. Here, we design a multiplexed SLIPT-based system comprising an array of photodetectors (PDs) arranged in a 3 × 3 configuration.

Balancing Pd-H Interactions: Thiolate-Protected Palladium Nanoclusters for Robust and Rapid Hydrogen Gas Sensing.

The transition toward hydrogen gas (H) as an eco-friendly and renewable energy source necessitates advanced safety technologies, particularly robust sensors for H leak detection and concentration monitoring. Although palladium (Pd)-based materials are preferred for their strong H affinity, intense palladium-hydrogen (Pd-H) interactions lead to phase transitions to palladium hydride (PdH), compromising sensors' durability and detection speeds after multiple uses. In response, this study introduces a high-performance H sensor designed from thiolate-protected Pd nanoclusters (PdSR), which leverages the synergistic effect between the metal and protective ligands to form an intermediate palladium-hydrogen-sulfur (Pd-H-S) state during H adsorption.