Continuous Monitoring of Soil Nitrate Using a Miniature Sensor with Poly(3-octyl-thiophene) and Molybdenum Disulfide Nanocomposite.

There is an unmet need for improved fertilizer management in agriculture. Continuous monitoring of soil nitrate would address this need. This paper reports an all-solid-state miniature potentiometric soil sensor that works in direct contact with soils to monitor nitrate-nitrogen (NO-N) in soil solution with parts-per-million (ppm) resolution.

Microfluidic Immuno-Biochip for Detection of Breast Cancer Biomarkers Using Hierarchical Composite of Porous Graphene and Titanium Dioxide Nanofibers.

We report on a label-free microfluidic immunosensor with femtomolar sensitivity and high selectivity for early detection of epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (EGFR2 or ErbB2) proteins. This sensor utilizes a uniquely structured immunoelectrode made of porous hierarchical graphene foam (GF) modified with electrospun carbon-doped titanium dioxide nanofibers (nTiO2) as an electrochemical working electrode. Due to excellent biocompatibility, intrinsic surface defects, high reaction kinetics, and good stability for proteins, anatase nTiO2 are ideal for electrochemical sensor applications.

Electrospun nanofibrous membranes for temperature regulation of microfluidic seed growth chips.

This paper reports a simple and effective approach to control statistical pore size distributions within electrospun nanofibrous membranes (ENMs), by choosing appropriate spinning times of electro-spinning deposition. Mean pore diameter of ENMs decreases exponentially with increasing spinning time. This pore-size control method is demonstrated to regulate amount of heat energy reaching microfluidic seed growth chips (SGC) and thus growth temperature of seeds on the chips, without using sophisticated semiconductor manufacturing techniques or additional on-chip electronic circuits.