Flexible Nanoarchitectonics for Biosensing and Physiological Monitoring Applications

Flexible and implantable electronics hold tremendous promises for advanced healthcare applications, especially for physiological neural recording and modulations. Key requirements in neural interfaces include miniature dimensions for spatial physiological mapping and low impedance for recognizing small biopotential signals. Herein, a bottom-up mesoporous formation technique and a top-down microlithography process are integrated to create flexible and low-impedance mesoporous gold (Au) electrodes for biosensing and bioimplant applications. The mesoporous architectures developed on a thin and soft polymeric substrate provide excellent mechanical flexibility and stable electrical characteristics capable of sustaining multiple bending cycles. The large surface areas formed within the mesoporous network allow for high current density transfer in standard electrolytes, highly suitable for biological sensing applications as demonstrated in glucose sensors with an excellent detection limit of 1.95 µm and high sensitivity of 6.1 mA cm⁻² µM⁻¹, which is approximately six times higher than that of benchmarking flat/non-porous films. The low impedance of less than 1 kΩ at 1 kHz in the as-synthesized mesoporous electrodes, along with their mechanical flexibility and durability, offer peripheral nerve recording functionalities that are successfully demonstrated in vivo. These features highlight the new possibilities of our novel flexible nanoarchitectonics for neuronal recording and modulation applications.     

Dual image-based reversible fragile watermarking scheme for tamper detection and localization

Pattern Analysis and Applications - This study proposes an efficient dual image-based reversible fragile watermarking scheme (DI-RFWS) that can accurately detect and locate the tampering regions...     

Impact of Ferroelectric Layer Thickness on Reliability of Back-End-of-Line-Compatible Hafnium Zirconium Oxide Films

Due to its ferroelectricity, hafnium oxide has attracted a lot of attention for ferroelectric memory devices. Amongst different dopant elements, zirconium is found to be beneficial due to the relatively low crystallization temperature of hafnium-zirconium-oxide (HZO), thus it is back-end-of-line (BEoL) compatible. The thickness of HZO has a significant impact on ferroelectric device reliability. High operation temperatures and high endurance are important criteria depending on the application. Herein, various HZO thicknesses (7, 8, and 10 nm) in MFM (metal-ferroelectric-metal) capacitors are investigated at varying operation temperatures (25 to 175 °C) at varying electric fields (±3 to ±5.4 MV cm⁻¹) with respect to polarization, leakage current, endurance, and retention. 7 nm HZO showed promising results with an endurance of 10⁷ cycles, with a low leakage current density, and almost no retention loss after 10 years. Extrapolated results at operation conditions (±2 MV cm⁻¹ and 10 MHz) showed an endurance of 10¹⁰ cycles.     

Fabrication and testing of mixed matrix membranes of UiO-66-NH2 in cellulose acetate for CO2 separation from model biogas

Mixed Matrix Membranes (MMMs) of UiO-66-NH₂ nanoparticles dispersed in Cellulose Acetate (CA) were prepared with filler loading of 2–20 wt%. MMMs were tested for the upgradation of model biogas (60%–40%) mixture of CH₄/CO₂ at a feed pressure of 2 bar and 1.5 bar. Detailed characterization of MMMs was performed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) to investigate the physical and thermal properties. MMMs formed are defects-free, voids-free, and without polymer rigidification, indicating a better filler polymer interface. MMMs showed improved CO₂ permeability while retaining the CO₂/CH₄ selectivity. The 10 wt.% UiO-66-NH₂/CA MMM showed optimum gas separation performance with CO₂ permeability of 11 Barrer and CO₂/CH₄ selectivity of 10. The UiO-66-NH₂/CA MMMs performed better when compared to the pure CA membrane. The experimental permeability and selectivity data were compared with the predicted data using Maxwell, Lewis–Nielsen, Higuchi, and Bruggeman's model.     

Engineering Route for Stretchable, 3D Microarchitectures of Wide Bandgap Semiconductors for Biomedical Applications

Wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors have attracted significant research interest for the development of a broad range of flexible electronic applications, including wearable sensors, soft logical circuits, and long-term implanted neuromodulators. Conventionally, these materials are grown on standard silicon substrates, and then transferred onto soft polymers using mechanical stamping processes. This technique can retain the excellent electrical properties of wide bandgap materials after transfer and enables flexibility; however, most devices are constrained by 2D configurations that exhibit limited mechanical stretchability and morphologies compared with 3D biological systems. Herein, a stamping-free micromachining process is presented to realize, for the first time, 3D flexible and stretchable wide bandgap electronics. The approach applies photolithography on both sides of free-standing nanomembranes, which enables the formation of flexible architectures directly on standard silicon wafers to tailor the optical transparency and mechanical properties of the material. Subsequent detachment of the flexible devices from the support substrate and controlled mechanical buckling transforms the 2D precursors of wide band gap semiconductors into complex 3D mesoscale structures. The ability to fabricate wide band gap materials with 3D architectures that offer device-level stretchability combined with their multi-modal sensing capability will greatly facilitate the establishment of advanced 3D bio-electronics interfaces.