Advanced Sensor and Energy Materials最新文献

Procalcitonin (PCT) is a promising biomarker for identification of the origin and severity of sepsis, which is a deadly body infection. However, traditional diagnostic tools exhibited challenges in complicated instruments, sensitivity and time consuming. Herein, we created a highly sensitive and selective surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) platform for PCT monitoring based on flower-like Bi₂WO₆-graphene (Bi₂WO₆-GO), which was created as a chemical mechanism (CM)-based SERS substrate with high stability as well as a remarkable enhancement factor (EF) value of 2.07 × 10⁸. The high EF value was primarily attributed to the efficient charge transfer (CT) between Bi₂WO₆-GO and 4-(2-(3-(dicyanomethylene)-5,5-dimethylcyclohex-1-en) vinyl) phenyl) boronic acid (BP) as a Raman reporter. The BP molecule was designed to play double key roles as a Raman reporter as well as a recognition probe. Owing to the specially designed BP molecule recognition of PCT and the high SERS effects of BP on Bi₂WO₆-GO, the developed SERS platform was employed for ultrasensitive and selective PCT quantification with a limit of detection down to 0.31 pg/mL in less than 8 min. The developed platform was also successfully utilized for early monitoring in sepsis rats, demonstrating practical potential for pathogene screening.

Hydrogen energy is an important energy carrier, which is an ideal choice to meet energy demand and reduce harmful gas emissions. The green recycling of hydrogen energy depends on water electrolysis and hydrogen fuel cells, which involves hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The activity of HER/HOR in alkaline electrolyte, however, exhibits a significantly lower magnitude (2–3 orders) compared to that observed in an acidic medium, which hinders the development of alkaline water electrolysis and alkaline membrane fuel cells. Therefore, comprehending the characteristics of HOR/HER activity in alkaline electrolytes and elucidating its underlying mechanism is a prerequisite for the design of advanced electrocatalysts. Based on this background, this review will briefly summarize the explanations and controversies about the basic HOR mechanism, including bifunctional mechanism and hydrogen binding energy theory. Moreover, the crucial affecting factors of the HOR kinetics, such as d-band center theory, interfacial water recombination, alkali metal cations and electronic effects, are discussed. Thus, based on the above theories, the design principle, catalytic performance, and latest progress of HOR electrocatalysts are summarized. An outlook and future research perspectives of advanced catalysts for hydrogen energy recycling are addressed. This review is helpful to understand the latest development of HOR mechanism and design cost-effective and high-performance HOR electrocatalysts towards the production of clean renewable energies.

A solar-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell is emerging as one of the promising clean hydrogen generation systems. Engineering of semiconductor heterojunctions and surface morphologies of photoelectrodes in a PEC cell has been a primitive approach to boost its performance. This study presents that a molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) nanoflakes photoanode on 3-dimensional (3D) porous carbon spun fabric (CSF) as a substrate effectively enhances hydrogen generations due to sufficiently enlarged surface area. MoS₂ is grown on CSFs utilizing a hydrothermal method. Among three different MoS₂ coating morphologies depending on the amount of MoS₂ precursor and hydrothermal growth time, film shape MoS₂ on CSFs had the largest surface area, exhibiting the highest photocurrent density of 26.48 mA/cm² and the highest applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) efficiency of 5.32% at 0.43 V_RHE. Furthermore, with a two-step growth method of sputtering and a subsequent hydrothermal coating, continuous TiO₂/MoS₂ heterojunctions on a porous CSF further promoted the photoelectrochemical performances due to their optimized bandgap alignments. Enlarged surface area, enhanced charge transfer, and utilization of visible light enable a highly efficient MoS₂/TiO₂/CSF photoanode with a photocurrent density of 33.81 mA/cm² and an ABPE of 6.97 % at 0.87 V_RHE. The hydrogen generation amount of the PEC cell with MoS₂/TiO₂/CSF photoanode is 225.4 μmol/L after light irradiation of 60 s.

Nanomaterials have become an important research topic in recent years due to the advantages they provide. Nanoparticles, which can be especially applied in many areas of industry, also come to the fore as sensor materials. Potentiometry-based devices offer significant advantages including wide concentration range, short response time, low cost, low detection limit, high selectivity and sensitivity. These important advantages allow potentiometric devices to be successfully applied in many fields such as food, environmental monitoring, medicine, pharmacy, industry and agriculture. In this mini review, we present a perspective on sensor and biosensor devices prepared with the unique properties of nanoparticles and potentiometry technique.

In recent years, there has been a growing demand for rapid detection methods, leading to the proliferation of biosensors, particularly electrochemical biosensors, which have garnered substantial attention from researchers. The fusion of biosensors with advanced electrochemical sensing technology has given rise to a diverse array of electrochemical biosensors characterized by their rapid detection capabilities and heightened sensitivity. Consequently, an imperative exists to comprehensively recapitulate recent advances in electrochemical biosensors, especially within the realm of clinical medicine. This review aims to elucidate the applications of electrochemical biosensors and delineate future development prospects, facilitating a more profound comprehension and further progression of this field. Specifically, we will examine the utilization of electrochemical biosensors in clinical medicine, encompassing their roles in point-of-care testing, disease diagnosis, and therapeutic monitoring. Moreover, we will spotlight emerging trends and prospective innovations, such as the evolution of nanostructured sensors and portable devices. By providing a comprehensive overview of the advances and potential applications of electrochemical biosensors in clinical medicine, this review will significantly contribute to the advancement of this field and serve as a catalyst for further research into innovative detection tools.

MXenes, a two-dimensional transition metal carbide, nitride, and carbonitride family, have received a lot of interest in recent years due to their unique properties and diverse applications. This review presents a comprehensive analysis of the applications and electrochemical characteristics of MXenes, providing a nuanced viewpoint on their potential impact in various fields. MXenes have a large surface area, high electrical conductivity, and variable surface chemistry, making them appealing candidates for energy storage, catalysis, sensing, and electronic device applications. The electrochemical characteristics of MXenes are fully investigated, including charge storage capacity and ion diffusion kinetics, highlighting their usefulness for supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, and other energy storage devices. Furthermore, this study digs into the interactions of MXenes with various electrolytes, offering insight into the obstacles and potential related to their practical application. The review also discusses the strategies employed to modify MXene properties and enhance their performance in surface chemistries across various energy storage devices and bio/sensor and clarify the correlations between their electrochemical properties and the required functions. Ultimately, this work provides a comprehensive outlook on the current state of MXene research, emphasizing the potentially transformative role of these materials in advancing technology across various domains.

Nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs) are nanocomposites that can be synthesized by the hydrothermal method. In this work, N-CQDs with the size of 3.2 ± 1.7 nm was prepared from 1 g citric acid and 2 g urea precursor in 10 mL water. Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) of the prepared N-CQDs with K₂S₂O₈ as a coreactant was found to reach a high ECL efficiency up to 109% relative to that of the Ru(bpy)₃²⁺/K₂S₂O₈, coreactant system, revealing their great potential for electroanalysis. It is probably because that N elements were doped well in this N-CQDs and increased presence of surface states per mass of N-CQDs. From the spooling ECL spectroscopy, it can be found that the ECL spectra exhibited both a red shift compared with their photoluminescence (PL) spectrum and a wavelength shift during the potentiodynamic scan in the ECL evolution and devolution processes, due to various emissive excited states of N-CQDs leading to higher ECL efficiency. This work gives an insight into development of high ECL efficiency N-CQDs for bioanalytical and light emitting applications.

Highly contagious COVID-19 disease is caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which poses a serious threat to global public health. Therefore, the development of a fast and reliable method for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 is an urgent research need. The Fe₃O₄@SiO₂–Au is enriched with a variety of functional groups, which can be used to fabricate a sensitive electrochemical biosensor by biofunctionalization with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Accordingly, we developed a novel electrochemical sensor by chemically modifying a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with Fe₃O₄@SiO₂–Au nanocomposites (hereafter Fe₃O₄@SiO₂–Au/GCE) for the rapid detection of S-protein spiked SARS-CoV-2 by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The new electrochemical sensor has a low limit detection (viz., 4.78 pg/mL) and a wide linear dynamic range (viz., 0.1 ng/mL to 10 μg/mL) for detecting the EIS response signal of S-protein. The robust Fe₃O₄@SiO₂–Au/GCE biosensor has high selectivity, stability, and reproducibility for the detection of S-protein with good recovery of saliva samples.