Sera Shin

Conductive Fiber‐Based Ultrasensitive Textile Pressure Sensor for Wearable Electronics

A flexible and sensitive textile-based pressure sensor is developed using highly conductive fibers coated with dielectric rubber materials. The pressure sensor exhibits superior sensitivity, very fast response time, and high stability, compared with previous textile-based pressure sensors. By using a weaving method, the pressure sensor can be applied to make smart gloves and clothes that can control machines wirelessly as human-machine interfaces.

Improvement of Gas-Sensing Performance of Large-Area Tungsten Disulfide Nanosheets by Surface Functionalization

Semiconducting two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are promising gas-sensing materials due to their large surface-to-volume ratio. However, their poor gas-sensing performance resulting from the low response, incomplete recovery, and insufficient selectivity hinders the realization of high-performance 2D TMDC gas sensors. Here, we demonstrate the improvement of gas-sensing performance of large-area tungsten disulfide (WS2) nanosheets through surface functionalization using Ag nanowires (NWs). Large-area WS2 nanosheets were synthesized through atomic layer deposition of WO3 followed by sulfurization. The pristine WS2 gas sensors exhibited a significant response to acetone and NO2 but an incomplete recovery in the case of NO2 sensing. After AgNW functionalization, the WS2 gas sensor showed dramatically improved response (667%) and recovery upon NO2 exposure. Our results establish that the proposed method is a promising strategy to improve 2D TMDC gas sensors.

Bio-Inspired Extreme Wetting Surfaces for Biomedical Applications

Biological creatures with unique surface wettability have long served as a source of inspiration for scientists and engineers. More specifically, materials exhibiting extreme wetting properties, such as superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic surfaces, have attracted considerable attention because of their potential use in various applications, such as self-cleaning fabrics, anti-fog windows, anti-corrosive coatings, drag-reduction systems, and efficient water transportation. In particular, the engineering of surface wettability by manipulating chemical properties and structure opens emerging biomedical applications ranging from high-throughput cell culture platforms to biomedical devices. This review describes design and fabrication methods for artificial extreme wetting surfaces. Next, we introduce some of the newer and emerging biomedical applications using extreme wetting surfaces. Current challenges and future prospects of the surfaces for potential biomedical applications are also addressed.

Switchable Water‐Adhesive, Superhydrophobic Palladium‐Layered Silicon Nanowires Potentiate the Angiogenic Efficacy of Human Stem Cell Spheroids

A switchable water-adhesive, super-hydrophobic nanowire surface is developed for the formation of functional stem cell spheroids. The sizes of hADSC spheroids are readily controllable on the surface. Our surface increases cell-cell and cell-matrix interaction, which improves viability and paracrine secretion of the spheroids. Accordingly, the hADSC spheroids produced on the surface exhibit significantly enhanced angiogenic efficacy.

Capillary force-induced glue-free printing of Ag nanoparticle arrays for highly sensitive SERS substrates.

The fabrication of well-ordered metal nanoparticle structures onto a desired substrate can be effectively applied to several applications. In this work, well-ordered Ag nanoparticle line arrays were printed on the desired substrate without the use of glue materials. The success of the method relies on the assembly of Ag nanoparticles on the anisotropic buckling templates and a special transfer process where a small amount of water rather than glue materials is employed. The anisotropic buckling templates can be made to have various wavelengths by changing the degree of prestrain in the fabrication step. Ag nanoparticles assembled in the trough of the templates via dip coating were successfully transferred to a flat substrate which has hydrophilic surface due to capillary forces of water. The widths of the fabricated Ag nanoparticle line arrays were modulated according to the wavelengths of the templates. As a potential application, the Ag nanoparticle line arrays were used as SERS substrates for various probing molecules, and an excellent surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) performance was achieved with a detection limit of 10(-12) M for Rhodamine 6G.

Triboelectric Nanogenerator Accelerates Highly Efficient Nonviral Direct Conversion and In Vivo Reprogramming of Fibroblasts to Functional Neuronal Cells.

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) can be an effective cell reprogramming platform for producing functional neuronal cells for therapeutic applications. Triboelectric stimulation accelerates nonviral direct conversion of functional induced neuronal cells from fibroblasts, increases the conversion efficiency, and induces highly matured neuronal phenotypes with improved electrophysiological functionalities. TENG devices may also be used for biomedical in vivo reprogramming.

A Droplet-Based High-Throughput SERS Platform on a Droplet-Guiding-Track-Engraved Superhydrophobic Substrate

A novel droplet-based surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensor for high-throughput real-time SERS monitoring is presented. The developed sensors are based on a droplet-guiding-track-engraved superhydrophobic substrate covered with hierarchical SERS-active Ag dendrites. The droplet-guiding track with a droplet stopper is designed to manipulate the movement of a droplet on the superhydrophobic substrate. The superhydrophobic Ag dendritic substrates are fabricated through a galvanic displacement reaction and subsequent self-assembled monolayer coating. The optimal galvanic reaction time to fabricate a SERS-active Ag dendritic substrate for effective SERS detection is determined, with the optimized substrate exhibiting an enhancement factor of 6.3 × 105 . The height of the droplet stopper is optimized to control droplet motion, including moving and stopping. Based on the manipulation of individual droplets, the optimized droplet-based real-time SERS sensor shows high resistance to surface contaminants, and droplets containing rhodamine 6G, Nile blue A, and malachite green are successively controlled and detected without spectral interference. This noble droplet-based SERS sensor reduces sample preparation time to a few seconds and increased detection rate to 0.5 µL s-1 through the simple operation mechanism of the sensor. Accordingly, our sensor enables high-throughput real-time molecular detection of various target analytes for real-time chemical and biological monitoring.

Changes in serum immunomolecules during antibiotic therapy for Mycobacterium avium complex lung disease

Little information is available regarding changes in immune status for patients with Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) lung disease during antibiotic therapy. Serum immunomolecules from 42 patients with MAC lung disease were assayed comparatively using an array‐based system according to (i) patients with MAC lung disease at the time of diagnosis versus healthy controls and (ii) alterations after 12 months of antibiotic therapy in the MAC lung disease group. In addition, cytokine analyses were performed to determine whether cytokine responses were associated specifically with the disease phenotype, treatment outcome and aetiological agent. Notably, the serum concentrations of type 1 cytokine‐associated molecules, such as CD40L, interferon (IFN)‐γ, interleukin (IL)‐8 and IL‐23, were decreased significantly in patients at the time of diagnosis, suggesting that these molecules may serve as indicators of host susceptibility to MAC disease. Although the overall serum level of T helper type 1 (Th1)‐related molecules, such as CD40L and IFN‐γ, was restored after treatment, Th17‐related cytokines, such as IL‐17 and IL‐23, were down‐regulated significantly at 12 months post‐treatment compared to pretreatment. Furthermore, these cytokine patterns differed among patient subgroups. Decreased serum concentrations of IL‐17 and/or IL‐23 were associated with failure of sputum conversion, the fibrocavitary disease phenotype and M. intracellulare lung disease. Thus, the reciprocal balance between Th1 and Th17 immunity during antibiotic therapy for MAC lung disease is critical for dictating the treatment response. In conclusion, a low level of Th1‐related immunomolecules may perpetuate MAC lung disease, and the serum concentrations of Th17‐related cytokines can reflect the treatment outcome, disease phenotype and aetiological agent.

Single-Droplet Multiplex Bioassay on a Robust and Stretchable Extreme Wetting Substrate through Vacuum-Based Droplet Manipulation

Herein, a droplet manipulation system with a superamphiphobic (SPO)-superamphiphilic (SPI) patterned polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate is developed for a multiplex bioassay from single-droplet samples. The SPO substrate is fabricated by sequential spraying of adhesive and fluorinated silica nanoparticles onto a PDMS substrate. It is subsequently subjected to oxygen plasma with a patterned mask to form SPI patterns. The SPO layer exhibits extreme liquid repellency with a high contact angle (>150°) toward low surface tension and viscous biofluidic droplets (e.g., ethylene glycol, blood, dimethyl sulfoxide, and alginate hydrogel). In contrast, the SPI exhibits liquid adhesion with a near zero contact angle. Using the droplet manipulation system, various liquid droplets can be precisely manipulated and dispensed onto the predefined SPI patterns on the SPO PDMS substrate. This system enables a multiplex colorimetric bioassay, capable of detecting multiple analytes, including glucose, uric acid, and lactate, from a single sample droplet. In addition, the detection of glucose concentrations in a plasma droplet of diabetic and healthy mice are performed to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system for efficient clinical diagnostic applications.

Highly Stable Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Substrates Using Few-Layer Graphene on Silver Nanoparticles

Graphene can be effectively applied as an ultrathin barrier for fluids, gases, and atoms based on its excellent impermeability. In this work, few-layer graphene was encapsulated on silver (Ag) nanoparticles for the fabrication of highly stable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates, which has strong resistance to oxidation of the Ag nanoparticles. The few-layer graphene can be successfully grown on the surface of the Ag nanoparticles through a simple heating process. To prevent the agglomeration of the Ag nanoparticles in the fabrication process, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) layers were used as a solid carbon source instead of methane (CH4) gas generally used as a carbon source for the synthesis of graphene. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra of the few-layer graphene-encapsulated Ag nanoparticles indicate that the few-layer graphene can protect the Ag nanoparticles from surface oxidation after intensive annealing processes in ambient conditions, giving the highly stable SERS substrates. The Raman spectra of Rhodamine 6G (R6G) deposited on the stable SERS substrates exhibit maintenance of the Raman signal intensity despite the annealing process in air. The facile approach to fabricate the few-layer graphene-encapsulated Ag nanoparticles can be effectively useful for various applications in chemical and biological sensors by providing the highly stable SERS substrates.