We have studied the anodic dissolution (electropolishing) of various stainless steel alloys in an ionic liquid comprising a 2 : 1 stoichiometric mix of ethylene glycol (EG) and choline chloride. We have used a combination of electrochemical and spectroscopic methods together with in situ liquid probe microscopy. We discuss the role and influence of the surface oxide passivation layer, characterized here by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and linear sweep voltammetry, on the polishing process. We address the question of dealloying during the polish in order to contribute to our understanding of the viability of the ionic liquid as a replacement industrial electropolishing medium; the current commercial process uses a corrosive mixture of phosphoric and sulfuric acids. Also, we present data from ex situ and in situ liquid AFM studies giving both a qualitative and quantitative insight into the nature and scale of morphological changes at the steel surface during the polishing process.

Surface enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy (SERRS) is a powerful molecular sensing tool that can be applied to a number of applications in the field of molecular diagnostics. We demonstrate that by using electron beam lithography to manipulate the nanoscale geometry of Ag split-ring resonators we can tune their optical properties such that they exhibit two independently addressable high frequency plasmon resonance modes for SERRS. This tailored multimodal, polarization dependent activity enables the split rings to act as discriminating sensors, with each resonance tuned for a particular sensing purpose. The structures are used as multiwavelength, multianalyte DNA SERRS sensors, with each resonance tuned to both the absorption wavelength of a differently colored Raman reporter molecule and its corresponding laser excitation wavelength. The ability of each resonance to independently sense small concentrations of a single DNA type from within a mixed population is demonstrated. Also shown is the effect of the split ring's dichroic response on the SERRS signal and the sensor's limit of detection of each resonance mode (switching its sensory reaction "on" and "off" depending on the orientation of the exciting light).

The fabrication of microelectrodes integrated within ultra-low-volume microtiter chambers for the amperometric determination of metabolites continues to be of interest in the subject of single-cell and high-throughput screening. The microsystem described in this paper consists of a two-microelectrode sensor with a microfluidic dispensation technology, which is able to deliver both very low titers (6.5 pL) and single heart cells into a low-volume microphotoelectrochemical cell. Devices were fabricated using photolithography and liftoff giving reproducible sensors integrated within high aspect ratio titer chambers (with a volume of 360 pL), made of the photoepoxy SU8. In this paper, the determination of lactate was optimized using an enzyme-linked assay based upon lactate oxidase, involving the amperometric determination of hydrogen peroxide at +640 mV versus an internal Ag/AgCl pseudoreference. The microsystem (including the microfluidic dispensers and structures as well as the microsensor) was subsequently used to measure the lactate content of single heart cells. Dynamic electrochemical measurements of lactate during cell permeabilization are presented. We also show the use of respiratory uncouplers to simulate ischemia in the single myocyte and show that, as expected, the rate of lactate production from the hypoxic heart cell is greater than that within the normoxic healthy myocyte.

Bacterial growth inhibition tests have become a standard measure of the adverse effects of inhibitors for a wide range of applications, such as toxicity testing in the medical and environmental sciences. However, conventional well-plate formats for these tests are laborious and provide limited information (often being restricted to an end-point assay). In this study, we have developed a microfluidic system that enables fast quantification of the effect of an inhibitor on bacteria growth and survival, within a single experiment. This format offers a unique combination of advantages, including long-term continuous flow culture, generation of concentration gradients, and single cell morphology tracking. Using Escherichia coli and the inhibitor amoxicillin as one model system, we show excellent agreement between an on-chip single cell-based assay and conventional methods to obtain quantitative measures of antibiotic inhibition (for example, minimum inhibition concentration). Furthermore, we show that our methods can provide additional information, over and above that of the standard well-plate assay, including kinetic information on growth inhibition and measurements of bacterial morphological dynamics over a wide range of inhibitor concentrations. Finally, using a second model system, we show that this chip-based systems does not require the bacteria to be labeled and is well suited for the study of naturally occurring species. We illustrate this using Nitrosomonas europaea, an environmentally important bacteria, and show that the chip system can lead to a significant reduction in the period required for growth and inhibition measurements (<4 days, compared to weeks in a culture flask).