Recently, there have been increasing calls for healthcare providers to provide controls for patients over their personal health records. Nevertheless, security issues concerning how different healthcare providers exchange healthcare information have caused a flop in the deployment of such systems. The ability to exchange data securely is important so that new borderless integrated healthcare services can be provided to patients. Due to its decentralized nature, blockchain technology is a suitable driver for the much-needed shift towards integrated healthcare, providing new insights and addressing some of the main challenges of many healthcare areas. Blockchain allows healthcare providers to record and manage peer-to-peer transactions through a network without central authority. In this paper, we discuss the concept of blockchain technology and hurdles in their adoption in the healthcare domain. Furthermore, a review is conducted on the latest implementations of blockchain technology in healthcare. Finally, a new case study of a blockchain-based healthcare platform is presented addressing the drawbacks of current designs, followed by recommendations for future blockchain researchers and developers.
Ferroelectric
(FE) materials are thought to be promising materials for self-powered
ultraviolet (UV) photodetector applications because of their photovoltaic
effects. However, FE-based photodetectors exhibited poor performance
because of the weak photovoltaic effect of FE depolarization field
(E
dp) on the separation of photo-generated
carriers. In this work, self-powered photodetectors based on both E
dp and built-in electric field at the p-n junction
(E
p‑n) were designed to obtain
enhanced device performance. A NiO/Pb0.95La0.05Zr0.54Ti0.46O3 (PLZT) heterojunction-based
device is constructed to take advantage of energy level alignments
that favor electron extraction. The device exhibits a tunable performance
upon varying the polarization direction of PLZT. The NiO/PLZT heterojunction-based
device with the PLZT layer in the poling down state shows a higher
responsivity [R = (1.8 ± 0.12) × 10–4 A/W] and detectivity [D* = (3.69
± 0.2) × 109 Jones], a faster response speed
(τr = 0.34 ± 0.03 s, τd = 0.36
± 0.02 s), and a lower dark current [I
dark = (1.3 ± 0.19) × 10–12 A] under zero
bias than the PLZT-based device because of the synergistic effects
of E
dp and E
p‑n. Moreover, under weak-light illumination (0.1 mW/cm2),
it exhibits even higher R [(6.3 ± 1.2) ×
10–4 A/W] and D* [(1.29 ±
0.26) × 1010 Jones] values, which surpass those of
most previously reported FE-based self-powered photodetectors. Our
work emphasizes the role of the coupling effect between E
p‑n and E
dp in the
photovoltaic process of NiO/PLZT heterojunction-based devices and
provides an effective way to promote the self-powered UV photodetector
applications.
Recently, one-dimensional photonic crystals (1DPCs) have attracted considerable interest because they exhibit a material-specific response profile to external stimuli. In our previous work, TiO2/GO 1DPCs, the stopbands of which can be made to span the whole visible range, were fabricated by spin-coating technique. The prepared 1DPCs have a double response to both dimethyl sulfoxide and alkali solution. However, the response is slow, insensitive, and irreversible. To improve the responsiveness of the 1DPCs, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-cross-linked poly((methyl vinyl ether)-co-maleic acid) (PMVE-co-MA) hydrogels were embedded in those crystals. The results demonstrated that modified 1DPCs with different stopbands could be obtained by controlling the speed of the spin-coating technique. The prepared 1DPCs have better responsiveness to external solution pH.
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