Molecular recognition and discrimination of carbohydrates are important because carbohydrates perform essential roles in most living organisms for energy metabolism and cell-to-cell communication. Nevertheless, it is difficult to identify or distinguish various carbohydrate molecules owing to the lack of a significant distinction in the physical or chemical characteristics. Although there has been considerable effort to develop a sensing platform for individual carbohydrates selectively using chemical receptors or an ensemble array, their detection and discrimination limits have been as high in the millimolar concentration range. Here we show a highly sensitive and selective detection method for the discrimination of carbohydrate molecules using nano-slot-antenna array-based sensing chips which operate in the terahertz (THz) frequency range (0.5–2.5 THz). This THz metamaterial sensing tool recognizes various types of carbohydrate molecules over a wide range of molecular concentrations. Strongly localized and enhanced terahertz transmission by nano-antennas can effectively increase the molecular absorption cross sections, thereby enabling the detection of these molecules even at low concentrations. We verified the performance of nano-antenna sensing chip by both THz spectra and images of transmittance. Screening and identification of various carbohydrates can be applied to test even real market beverages with a high sensitivity and selectivity.

Detection of gas-phase chemicals finds a wide variety of applications, including food and beverages, fragrances, environmental monitoring, chemical and biochemical processing, medical diagnostics, and transportation. One approach for these tasks is to use arrays of highly sensitive and selective sensors as an electronic nose. Here, we present a high performance chemiresistive electronic nose (CEN) based on an array of metal oxide thin films, metal-catalyzed thin films, and nanostructured thin films. The gas sensing properties of the CEN show enhanced sensitive detection of H2S, NH3, and NO in an 80% relative humidity (RH) atmosphere similar to the composition of exhaled breath. The detection limits of the sensor elements we fabricated are in the following ranges: 534 ppt to 2.87 ppb for H2S, 4.45 to 42.29 ppb for NH3, and 206 ppt to 2.06 ppb for NO. The enhanced sensitivity is attributed to the spillover effect by Au nanoparticles and the high porosity of villi-like nanostructures, providing a large surface-to-volume ratio. The remarkable selectivity based on the collection of sensor responses manifests itself in the principal component analysis (PCA). The excellent sensing performance indicates that the CEN can detect the biomarkers of H2S, NH3, and NO in exhaled breath and even distinguish them clearly in the PCA. Our results show high potential of the CEN as an inexpensive and noninvasive diagnostic tool for halitosis, kidney disorder, and asthma.

No abstract

Highly sensitive and selective chemiresistive sensors based on graphene functionalized by metals and metal oxides have attracted considerable attention in the fields of environmental monitoring and medical assessment because of their ultrasensitive gas detecting performance and cost‐effective fabrication. However, their operation, in terms of detection limit and reliability, is limited in traditional applications because of ambient humidity. Here, the enhanced sensitivity and selectivity of single‐stranded DNA‐functionalized graphene (ssDNA‐FG) sensors to NH3 and H2S vapors at high humidity are demonstrated and their sensing mechanism is suggested. It is found that depositing a layer of ssDNA molecules leads to effective modulation of carrier density in graphene, as a negative‐potential gating agent and the formation of an additional ion conduction path for proton hopping in the layer of hydronium ions (H3O+) at high humidity (>80%). Considering that selectively responsive chemical vapors are biomarkers associated with human diseases, the obtained results strongly suggest that ssDNA‐FG sensors can be the key to developing a high‐performance exhaled breath analyzer for diagnosing halitosis and kidney disorder.

Monolayer transition‐metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have recently emerged as promising candidates for advanced photonic and valleytronic applications due to their unique optoelectronic properties. However, the low luminescence efficiency of monolayer TMDCs has significantly hampered their use in these fields. Here it is reported that the photoluminescence efficiency of monolayer WS2 can be remarkably enhanced up to fourfold through the fluorination, surpassing the reported performance of molecular and/or electrical doping methods. Its degree is easily controlled by changing the fluorine plasma duration time and can also be reversibly tuned via additional hydrogen plasma treatment, allowing for its versatile tailoring for interfacial band alignment and customized engineering. The striking photoluminescence improvement occurs via a substantial transition of trions to excitons as a result of the strong electron affinity of fluorine dopants, and the fluorination enables unprecedented detection of n‐type NH3 gas in WS2 due to changed excitonic dynamics showing excellent sensitivity (at least down to 1.25 ppm). This work provides valuable strategies and insights into exciton physics in monolayer TMDCs, opening up avenues toward highly‐efficient 2D light emitters, photovoltaics, nanosensors, and optical interconnects.