Acoustically Enhanced Triboelectric Stethoscope for Ultrasensitive Cardiac Sounds Sensing and Disease Diagnosis.

Electronic stethoscope used to detect cardiac sounds that contain essential clinical information is a primary tool for diagnosis of various cardiac disorders. However, the linear electromechanical constitutive relation makes conventional piezoelectric sensors rather ineffective to detect low-intensity, low-frequency heart acoustic signal without the assistance of complex filtering and amplification circuits. Herein, it is found that triboelectric sensor features superior advantages over piezoelectric one for microquantity sensing originated from the fast saturated constitutive characteristic.

A Self-Powered, Highly Embedded and Sensitive Tribo-Label-Sensor for the Fast and Stable Label Printer.

Label-sensor is an essential component of the label printer which is becoming a most significant tool for the development of Internet of Things (IoT). However, some drawbacks of the traditional infrared label-sensor make the printer fail to realize the high-speed recognition of labels as well as stable printing. Herein, we propose a self-powered and highly sensitive tribo-label-sensor (TLS) for accurate label identification, positioning and counting by embedding triboelectric nanogenerator into the indispensable roller structure of a label printer.

Multifunctional Chemical Sensing Platform Based on Dual-Resonant Infrared Plasmonic Perfect Absorber for On-Chip Detection of Poly(ethyl cyanoacrylate).

Multifunctional chemical sensing is highly desirable in industry, agriculture, and environmental sciences, but remains challenging due to the diversity of chemical substances and reactions. Surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopy can potentially address the above problems by ultra-sensitive detection of molecular fingerprint vibrations. Here, a multifunctional chemical sensing platform based on dual-resonant SEIRA device for sensitive and multifunctional on-chip detection of poly(ethyl cyanoacrylate) (PECA) is reported.

Theoretical and Experimental Studies on MEMS Variable Cross-Section Cantilever Beam Based Piezoelectric Vibration Energy Harvester.

The piezoelectric vibration energy harvester (PVEH) based on the variable cross-section cantilever beam (VCSCB) structure has the advantages of uniform axial strain distribution and high output power density, so it has become a research hotspot of the PVEH. However, its electromechanical model needs to be further studied. In this paper, the bidirectional coupled distributed parameter electromechanical model of the MEMS VCSCB based PVEH is constructed, analytically solved, and verified, which laid an important theoretical foundation for structural design and optimization, performance improvement, and output prediction of the PVEH.

Plasmonic Biosensor Augmented by a Genetic Algorithm for Ultra-Rapid, Label-Free, and Multi-Functional Detection of COVID-19.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is spreading globally due to its super contagiousness, and the pandemic caused by it has caused serious damage to the health and social economy of all countries in the world. However, conventional diagnostic methods are not conducive to large-scale screening and early identification of infected persons due to their long detection time. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a new COVID-19 test method that can deliver results in real time and on-site.

Infrared Plasmonic Biosensor with Tetrahedral DNA Nanostructure as Carriers for Label-Free and Ultrasensitive Detection of miR-155.

MicroRNAs play an important role in early development, cell proliferation, apoptosis, and cell death, and are aberrantly expressed in many types of cancers. To understand their function and diagnose cancer at an early stage, it is crucial to quantitatively detect microRNA without invasive labels. Here, a plasmonic biosensor based on surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) for rapid, label-free, and ultrasensitive detection of miR-155 is reported.

Bionic Ultra-Sensitive Self-Powered Electromechanical Sensor for Muscle-Triggered Communication Application.

The past few decades have witnessed the tremendous progress of human-machine interface (HMI) in communication, education, and manufacturing fields. However, due to signal acquisition devices' limitations, the research on HMI related to communication aid applications for the disabled is progressing slowly. Here, inspired by frogs' croaking behavior, a bionic triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG)-based ultra-sensitive self-powered electromechanical sensor for muscle-triggered communication HMI application is developed.

Metal-Organic Framework-Surface-Enhanced Infrared Absorption Platform Enables Simultaneous On-Chip Sensing of Greenhouse Gases.

Simultaneous on-chip sensing of multiple greenhouse gases in a complex gas environment is highly desirable in industry, agriculture, and meteorology, but remains challenging due to their ultralow concentrations and mutual interference. Porous microstructure and extremely high surface areas in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) provide both excellent adsorption selectivity and high gases affinity for multigas sensing. Herein, it is described that integrating MOFs into a multiresonant surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) platform can overcome the shortcomings of poor selectivity in multigas sensing and enable simultaneous on-chip sensing of greenhouse gases with ultralow concentrations.

Integrating a Microwave Resonator and a Microchannel with an Immunochromatographic Strip for Stable and Quantitative Biodetection.

An immunochromatographic strip is an effective diagnostic tool in various fields because of its simplicity, rapidity, and cost-effectiveness. However, typical strips for preliminary screening provide only qualitative or semiquantitative results, and common solutions for quantitative detection by incorporating different kinds of nanoparticles as biomarkers still do not solve this problem thoroughly. Here, we try to tackle this challenge by integrating low-cost membrane-compatible square split-ring resonators and structure-design-flexible microchannels with flexible strips.