Voltage Ripple of Electrode Sensor in Electrolyte Flow

Voltage ripple of electrode sensor that moves relative to electrolyte (flow noise) is interpreted in agreement with experimental data using variations in the adsorption rate of oxygen on the electrode surface upon variations in the thickness of the diffusion layer. A relationship of electrode potential and flow velocity jumps is derived. It is shown that the electrode voltage ripple is proportional to the pulsation of the liquid flow velocity and is inertial with respect to such a pulsation with a time constant of several milliseconds. It is also shown that the sensor sensitivity to velocity pulsations exponentially decreases with a time constant of several hours. The dependences of the ripple amplitude on the pulsation frequency of the velocity, electrolyte concentration, and storage time of electrodes in electrolyte that are obtained using the above relationship are proven in experiments.     

Enhanced Sensitivity of Iontronic Graphene Tactile Sensors Facilitated by Spreading of Ionic Liquid Pinned on Graphene Grid

Iontronic graphene tactile sensors (i‐GTS) composed of a top floating graphene electrode and an ionic liquid droplet pinned on a bottom graphene grid, which can dramatically enhance the performance of capacitive‐type tactile sensors, are presented. When mechanical stress is applied to the top floating electrode, the i‐GTS operates in one of the following three regimes: air–air, air–electric double layer (EDL) transition, or EDL–EDL. Once the top electrode contacts the ionic liquid in the i‐GTS, the spreading behavior of the ionic liquid causes a capacitance transition (from a few pF to over hundreds of pF). This is because EDLs are formed at the interfaces between the electrodes and the ionic liquid. In this case, the pressure sensitivity increases to ≈31.1 kPa^?1 with a gentle touch. Under prolonged application of pressure, the capacitance increases gradually, mainly due to the contact line expansion of the ionic liquid bridge pinned on the graphene grid. The sensors exhibit outstanding properties (response and relaxation times below 80 ms, and stability over 300 cycles) while demonstrating ultimate signal‐to‐noise ratios in the array tests. The contact‐induced spreading behavior of the ionic liquid is the key for boosting the sensor performance.     

High‐Sensitivity,Skin‐Attachable,and Stretchable Array of Thermo‐Responsive Suspended Gate Field‐Effect Transistors with Thermochromic Display

The fabrication of a skin‐attachable, stretchable array of high‐sensitivity temperature sensors is demonstrated. The temperature sensor consists of a single‐walled carbon nanotube field‐effect transistor with a suspended gate electrode of poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)‐coated gold grid/poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate and thermochromic leuco dye. The sensor exhibits a very high sensitivity of 6.5% °C^?1 at temperatures between 25 and 45 °C. With increasing temperature, the suspended gate electrode bends due to the deswelling of the PNIPAM, resulting in the reduction of the air gap to increase the drain current under a constant gate voltage. At the same time, the leuco dye coated on top of the transparent gate electrode changes color to visualize changes in temperature. The 4 × 6 integrated temperature sensor array integrated using liquid metal interconnections exhibits mechanical and electrical stability under 50% biaxial stretching and allows for the spatial mapping of temperature with visual color display regardless of wrist movement while attached to the skin of the wrist. This work is expected to be widely useful in the development of skin‐attachable electronics for medical and health‐care monitoring.     

High‐κ Solid‐Gate Transistor Configured Graphene Biosensor with Fully Integrated Structure and Enhanced Sensitivity

A fully integrated graphene field‐effect transistor (GFET) nanosensor utilizing a novel high‐κ solid‐gating geometry for a practical biosensor with enhanced sensitivity is presented. Herein, an “in plane” gate supplying electrical field through a 30 nm HfO₂ dielectric layer is employed to eliminate the cumbrous external wire electrode in conventional liquid‐gate GFET nanosensors that undesirably limits the device potential in on‐site sensing applications. In addition to the advantage in the device integration degree, the transconductance level is found to be increased by about 50% over liquid‐gate GFET devices in aqueous‐media, thereby improves the sensitivity performance in sensor applications. As the first demonstration of biosensing applications, a small‐molecule antibiotic, kanamycin A, is detected by means of an aptameric competitive affinity principle. It is experimentally shown that the label‐free and specific quantification of kanamycin A with a concentration resolution at 11.5 × 10^?9 m is achievable through a single direct observation of the 200 s fast bioassay without any further noise canceling. These results demonstrate the utility and practicability of the new devices in label‐free biosensing as a novel analytical tool, and potentially hold great promise in other significant biomedical applications.     

Velocity-matching in millimeter wave integrated optic modulatorswith periodic electrodes

One method of increasing the efficiency of a high-frequency integrated optic modulator is to use a periodic electrode to repeatedly “correct” the phase mismatch that results from unequal RF and optical propagation velocities. The center frequency of such a modulator's passband can be determined analytically by expanding the traveling RF field in terms of space harmonics, and by then matching the phase velocity of the dominant space harmonic to the phase velocity of the optical carrier. The theory of space harmonic velocity-matching is presented for the simple case of periodic intermittent interaction and periodic phase reversal modulators having no back-reflections at electrode discontinuities. Velocity-matching with Bloch waves is then described for nonideal structures where significant back-reflections can occur. The measured modulation response for several 35-GHz periodic intermittent interaction modulators that were designed using these concepts is presented and compared with the theoretical predictions     

Fully Elastic and Metal‐Free Tactile Sensors for Detecting both Normal and Tangential Forces Based on Triboelectric Nanogenerators

A tactile sensor should be able to detect both normal and tangential forces, which is mandatory for simulating human hands, but this fundamental function has been overlooked by most of the previous studies. Here, based on a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with single‐electrode mode, the fully elastic and metal‐free tactile sensor that can detect both normal and tangential forces is proposed. With tiny burr arrays on the contact interface to facilitate the elastic deformation, the detected normal pressure by the device can reach to 1.5 MPa with a sensitivity of about 51.43 kPa V⁻¹, and a large range of tangential forces can be detected ranging from 0.5 to 40 N with rough sensitivity of 0.83 N V⁻¹ (0.5–3 N) and 2.50 N V⁻¹ (3–40 N). Meanwhile, the applied tangential forces from different directions can also be clearly distinguished by the four‐partitioned electrode structure. Moreover, a shield film is coated on the top surface of the device, which can screen the electrostatic interference and enhance the repeatability of the device. The demonstrated concept of this self‐powered tactile sensor has excellent applicability for industrial robotics, human–machine interactions, artificial intelligence, etc.     

Low-frequency noise characteristics of AlSb/InAsSb HEMTs

Measurements of the low-frequency noise between 1 Hz and 100 kHz in AlSb/InAsSb HEMTs are reported. At room temperature, over the lower part of the frequency range, the slope of the noise level is close to ideal 1/f. The corresponding Hooge parameter, α_H, was found to be 1.4 × 10⁻³. In the high-frequency part of the spectrum, the start of a noise Lorentzian component is apparent. At lower temperatures, this component becomes fully visible and moves down in frequency with decreasing temperature, indicating the presence of a discrete trap level with an activation energy of 0.38 eV. Also at low temperatures, when the devices are illuminated with visible light, the noise increases greatly, displaying a prominent Lorentzian component with the characteristic 1/f² slope above the corner frequency.     

三角剪切式微震监测压电加速度传感器设计

针对现有应用于矿井突水动力灾害防治微震监测传感器存在灵敏度低及频率范围窄的问题,该文提出了一种基于三角剪切式结构的微震监测压电加速度传感器。首先建立了压电加速度传感器的力学模型,对与固有频率和灵敏度有关的结构及材料参数进行了分析;然后设计了三角剪切型压电加速度传感器结构,探讨了压电陶瓷材料的选择,再利用ANSYS建立了压电加速度传感器有限元结构模型,分别对传感器进行模态分析、谐振响应分析与压电分析。仿真结果表明,设计的压电加速度传感器的工作频率和灵敏度满足微震监测要求。最后对设计的压电加速度传感器进行了标定和微震信号检测试验。结果表明,该传感器的谐振频率为6 300 Hz,工作频率为0.1~2 100 Hz,电荷灵敏度为34.626 pC/(m·s^-2)时,可完成对微震信号的检测,且具有宽频率范围和高灵敏度。     

Effects of finger dimension on low-frequency noise and optoelectronic properties of Ge metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors with interdigitated Pt finger electrodes

We investigated the effect of interdigitated Pt finger electrode dimension on the low-frequency noise and optoelectrical properties of Ge metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) infrared photodetectors (PDs). This dark current reduction led to an increase in the normalized photo current to dark current ratio (NPDR). The decrease in finger width/spacing facilitated the occurrence of the electric field crowding near contact electrode. This resulted in the image-force Schottky barrier lowering, which could be responsible for the increase in dark current. From the low frequency noise measurements performed at the frequencies in the range of 10 Hz–1 kHz, the Ge MSM PDs had 1/f^γ frequency dependence with γ ranging from 1.07 to 1.20, regardless of finger dimension. The current crowding, in particular at the vicinity of the finger electrodes, was more pronounced in the Ge MSM PDs having smaller finger width/spacing, which could be a main cause of the increase in the low frequency noise.     

On 1/f noise characteristics for 0.1 eV HgCdTe photoconductors

Sensitivities on 0.1 eV HgCdTe photoconductors with new electrode configuration and in different sizes were measured at 77K and under 10¹⁴phcm^?2s^?1 photon background conditions. After data for responsivity, generation-recombination noise (g-r noise) and minority carrier lifetime were reproduced by solving a one dimensional diffusion equation on excess minority carrier, discussions on 1/f noise were made and the following characteristics were concluded: (1) 1/f noise does not originate near electrodes for bias current. (2) 1/f noise hardly depends on sensor size and temperature in the 77–95K range, while g-r noise does. (3) 1/f noise is proportional to bias electric field, i.e. current density. (4) 1/f noise does not depend on photon background. From characteristics (2) and (4), it was concluded that 1/f noise has nothing to do with g-r noise. Finally, a new empirical formula was proposed for 1/f noise.     

Rational Design of Soft Yet Elastic Lamellar Graphene Aerogels via Bidirectional Freezing for Ultrasensitive Pressure and Bending Sensors

To enhance the sensitivity of graphene aerogel-based piezoresistive sensors by weakening their compressive strength while keeping their elasticity, lightweight and lamellar graphene aerogels (LGAs) with high elasticity and satisfactory electrical conductance networks are fabricated by bidirectional-freezing of aqueous suspensions of graphene oxide in the presence of small amounts of organic solvents, followed by lyophilizing and thermal annealing. Because of the lamellar structure of the LGA, its compressive strength along the direction perpendicular to the lamellar surface is much lower than those of both isotropic and unidirectionally aligned graphene aerogels with similar apparent densities, leading to an ultrasensitive LGA-based piezoresistive sensor with a high sensitivity of −3.69 kPa⁻¹ and a low detection limit of 0.15 Pa. The ultrahigh sensitivity and low detection limit of LGA-based piezoresistive sensor contribute to detecting subtle pressure at room temperature and in liquid nitrogen with ability to detect dynamic force frequency and sound vibration. Besides, thanks to the fewer junction points between the graphene lamellae, LGAs slices can be integrated as a wide-range and sensitive bending sensor, which can detect arbitrary bending angles from 0° to 180° with a low detection limit of 0.29°, and is efficient in detecting biosignals of wrist pulse and finger bending.     

基于对称悬臂梁的小型化低频FBG加速度传感器研究

提出了一种基于对称悬臂梁的小型化低频光纤布拉格光栅(FBG)加速度传感器。首先根据传感器结构的力学模型,推导出传感器的灵敏度和固有频率表达式;然后对传感器进行结构参数优化,采用ANSYS Workbench对传感器进行静应力与模态分析;最后根据分析结果制作传感器,并实验研究了传感器的幅频响应、灵敏度特性、横向抗干扰能力和冲击响应。结果表明,该传感器固有频率为72 Hz,灵敏度为681.7 pm/g,抗横向干扰度小于4.9%,且体积仅为6.48 cm^(3),可用于50 Hz以下的低频微弱振动信号的实时监测。     

自适应双参考磁场梯度探测原理

本文使用4个单分量磁探头构成双参考磁场梯度探测装置.4个探头组成3个磁场梯度传感器,其中一个为信号传感器,另两个为噪声传感器.以信号传感器输出作为原始输入,噪声传感器输出作为参考输入,采用自适应噪声抵消技术,能有效消除因载体运动产生的涡流磁场及因磁探头方向相对地磁方向改变而引起的噪声输出.本文提出的双参考磁场梯度探测装置具有工艺性好,灵敏度高,虚警概率低的优点,可在实际磁探系统中使用.     

一种基于CASA的单通道语音增强方法

基于对计算听觉场景分析(Computational Auditory Scene Analysis,CASA)算法思想的研究,提出了一种单通道语音增强方法。通过分析白噪声、风噪声、周期性噪声三类典型噪声和一般语音信号的频谱特点,构造适合的信号提取特征作为线索,判别出信号时频单元中的主要信号成分,然后对各时频单元乘以相应的衰减系数以掩蔽噪声成分。对仿真实验结果的客观测试和非正式听音测试表明,相对于常用的多子带谱减法和维纳滤波法,所提出的算法能够更有效地抑制白噪声、风噪声、周期性噪声等背景噪声。     

A Wrinkled PEDOT:PSS Film Based Stretchable and Transparent Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Wearable Energy Harvesters and Active Motion Sensors

The functionalized conductive polymer is a promising choice for flexible triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) for harvesting human motion energy still poses challenges. In this work, a transparent and stretchable wrinkled poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4‐styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) electrode based TENG (WP‐TENG) is fabricated. The optimum conductivity and transparency of PEDOT:PSS electrode can reach 0.14 kΩ □⁻¹ and 90%, respectively, with maximum strain of ≈100%. Operating in single‐electrode mode at 2.5 Hz, the WP‐TENG with an area of 6 × 3 cm² produces an open‐circuit voltage of 180 V, short‐circuit current of 22.6 µA, and average power density of 4.06 mW m⁻². It can be worn on the wrist to harvest hand tapping energy and charge the capacitor to 2 V in ≈3.5 min, and then drive an electronic watch. Furthermore, the WP‐TENG as the human motion monitoring sensor could inspect the bending angle of the elbow and joint by analyzing the peak value of voltage and monitor the motion frequency by counting the peak number. The triboelectric mechanism also enables the WP‐TENG to realize high‐performance active tactile sensing. The assembled 3 pixel × 3 pixel tactile sensor array is fabricated for mapping the touch location or recording the shape of object contacted with the sensor array.     

Organic field-effect transistor with extended indium tin oxide gate structure for selective pH sensing

In this study, organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) with extended gate structure were fabricated for selective pH sensing applications. Indium tin oxide (ITO) was used as extended gate electrode as well as an active layer for H⁺ sensing. The threshold voltage of the fabricated ion-selective OFET was varied by the changes in the electrochemical potential at the ITO electrode surface upon its exposure to buffer solutions with variable pH values. The sensor showed excellent linearity and a high sensitivity of 57–59 mV/pH in the pH range of 2–12. The selectivity of the ITO sensing layer to H⁺ ions was also investigated by measuring the interfering effect of Ca²⁺ and K⁺ ions in the buffer pH solutions. The results showed that the Ca²⁺ and K⁺ ions weakly interfere with the selective pH sensing of the ITO-extended gate OFET sensor device.     

Functionalized Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Electrochemical Sensor for Determination of Anticancer Drug Flutamide

An electrochemical sensor based on functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT_f) has been developed and applied for determination of anticancer drug flutamide in pharmaceutical and artificial urine samples. The electrode was prepared by modifying a glassy carbon electrode with MWCNT_f, denoted herein as MWCNT_f/GCE. The MWCNT_f/GCE electrode exhibited high catalytic activity, high sensitivity, and high stability and was applicable over a wide concentration range for flutamide. The effects of the scan rate, pH, and nature of the electrolyte on the electrochemical behavior of flutamide on the MWCNT_f/GCE were investigated. The results showed that this electrode presented the best square-wave voltammetric response to flutamide in Britton–Robinson buffer solution at pH 5.0 at frequency of 50 Hz and amplitude of 0.06 V. The proposed sensor presents a wide linear response range from concentration of 0.1 μmol L^?1 up to 1000 μmol L^?1 (or 27.6 μg L^?1 up to 0.27 g L^?1), with limit of detection, limit of quantification, and sensitivity of 0.03 μmol L^?1, 0.1 μmol L^?1, and 0.30 μA μmol^?1 L, respectively. The MWCNT_f/GCE electrode was successfully applied for determination of flutamide in pharmaceutical formulations and artificial urine samples, giving results in agreement with those obtained by a comparative method described in literature. A paired Student’s t-test revealed no statistical difference between the reference and proposed method at 95% confidence level. The average recovery for fortified samples was 101 ± 1%.     

An Ultrasensitive Contact Lens Sensor Based On Self-Assembly Graphene For Continuous Intraocular Pressure Monitoring

Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) is the leading cause of glaucoma. As glaucoma is an irreversible neurological eye disease, it is urgent to realize timely and accurate IOP detection for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Here, a contact lens sensor for continuous IOP monitoring using self-assembly graphene (SAG), is developed. The combination of face-to-face water transfer printing and micro-electromechanical systems technology can realize the batch preparation of such a sensor. The sensor has good light transmittance and temperature stability. It exhibits an ultra-high IOP sensitivity of 1.0164 mV mm Hg⁻¹ on a silicone eye, and 3.166 mV mm Hg⁻¹ in vitro on the porcine eye with remarkable linearity. The sensitivity of the proposed sensor is high enough to be read by a commercial radio frequency identification read–write system for continuous wireless monitoring of IOP. Furthermore, the as-prepared sensor can work as normal for 24 h in phosphate buffer saline.     

Electrochemically Induced Conformational Change of Di-Boronic Acid-Functionalized Ferrocene for Direct Solid-State Monitoring of Aqueous Fluoride Ions

While fluoride ions (F⁻) are abundant across environmental and biological systems, common procedures and potentiometric sensors for quantifying aqueous F⁻ are inefficient, time-consuming, and suffer from poor pH resiliency and high detection limits. Herein, this work reports a new di-boronic acid-functionalized ferrocene (FDBA) molecular receptor for noncovalent F⁻ recognition, toward the development of a solid-state miniaturized voltammetric fluoride sensor capable of direct and reversible F⁻ detection in drinking water (DW) (pH 6) and community water (pH 7.6–9.1) over the µg L⁻¹–mg L⁻¹ range. The associated sensing mechanism is enabled by the conformational change of FDBA from the open (charge-repelled) to closed (π-dimerized) conformation, which is facilitated by the unique linkage of two electron-accepting phenylboronic acid moieties with the electron-donating ferrocene moiety using rigid conjugated amide linkers. The square wave voltammetric (SWV) oxidation current response of the FDBA-based fluoride sensor is spectroscopically investigated, suggesting a combination of electrooxidation-triggered conformational change of FDBA on a nanocarbon-modified electrode, F⁻ anion–π interactions, and resulting electron transfer between F⁻ and FDBA. The performance of the voltammetric fluoride sensor is compared to that of a commercial liquid junction-based fluoride ion-selective electrode (F-ISE), and of a solid-contact (SC) F-ISE sensor chip, demonstrating significant advantages versus traditional potentiometric F-ISEs.     

Noise analysis of high-gain, low-noise column readout circuits for CMOS image sensors

The temporal read noise on the signal path of a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor image sensor is analyzed to investigate the effectiveness of high-gain column amplifiers in enhancing sensor sensitivity. The signal path examined includes a pixel source follower, a switched-capacitor, noise-cancelling, high-gain amplifier, and a sample-and-hold circuit in each column. It is revealed that the total random readout noise consists of a component due to noise charge sampled and held at the charge summation node of the amplifier and transferred to the output, and a direct noise component sampled at the sample-and-hold stage at the output of the column amplifier. The analysis suggests that the direct noise components can be greatly reduced by increasing the column amplifier gain, indicating that an extremely low-noise readout circuit may be achievable through the development of a double-stage noise-cancelling architecture.