MOF/MWCNT-Nanocomposite Manipulates High Selectivity to Gas via Different Adsorption Sites with Varying Electron Affinity: A Study in Methane Detection in Parts-per-Billion.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) present specific adsorption sites with varying electron affinity which are uniquely conducive to selective gas sensing but are typically large-band-gap insulators. On the contrary, multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) exhibit superior mesoscopic transport exploiting strong electron correlations among sub-bands below and above the Fermi level at room temperature. We synergize them in a new class of nanocomposites based on zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) and report selective sensing of CH in ∼10 parts-per-billion (ppb) with a determined limit of detection of ∼0.

Micro/nanotechnology-inspired rapid diagnosis of respiratory infectious diseases.

Humans have suffered from a variety of infectious diseases since a long time ago, and now a new infectious disease called COVID-19 is prevalent worldwide. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to research of the effective methods of diagnosing respiratory infectious diseases, which are important to reduce infection rate and help the spread of diseases be controlled. The onset of COVID-19 has led to the further development of existing diagnostic methods such as polymerase chain reaction, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and loop-mediated isothermal amplification.

Facile and rapid synthesis of functionalized Zr-BTC for the optical detection of the blistering agent simulant 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES).

2-Chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES) is a simulant for the chemical warfare agent, bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide, also known as mustard gas. Here, we demonstrate a facile and rapid method to synthesize a functionalized metal-organic framework (MOF) material for the detection of CEES at trace level. During the synthesis of Zr-BTC, the in situ encapsulation of a fluorescent material (fluorescein) into Zr-BTC voids is performed by a simple solvothermal reaction.