We describe in this work a novel electrochemical immunosensor design making use of carbon nanohorns (CNHs) as a scaffold for the preparation of disposable immunosensing platforms for the determination of fibrinogen (Fib). The approach involved the immobilization of Fib onto activated CNHs deposited on screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) and the implementation of an indirect competitive assay using anti-Fib labeled with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and hydroquinone (HQ) as the redox mediator. Both CNHs and the Fib-CNHs covalent assembly were characterized by microscopic and electrochemical techniques. The different variables affecting the analytical performance of the amperometric immunosensing strategy were optimized. The calibration plot for Fib allowed a range of linearity between 0.1 and 100 μg/mL (r(2) = 0.994) and a detection limit of 58 ng/mL to be achieved. The Fib-CNHs/SPCEs exhibited an excellent storage stability of at least 42 days. The developed immunosensor provides, in general, an analytical performance better than that reported for other Fib immunosensors and commercial ELISA kits. This simple and relatively low cost immunosensor configuration permitted the sensitive and selective determination of Fib in human plasma and urine.

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During the pre-conceptual design phase of DEMO, different alternatives have been explored to be implemented as tritium extraction and removal system (TERS) for the blanket concepts considered in EUROfusion. The TERS is conceived to extract tritium from the breeder and to route it to the Tritium Plant for final processing. A careful review showed that those blankets operated with PbLi should use the permeation against vacuum (PAV) technique as primary option which is based on a one-step, fully continuous procedure. In this paper, a conceptual design of the TERS for the dual coolant lithium lead (DCLL) breeding blanket is presented, based on the European DEMO2015 layout (18 sectors, 2037 MW fusion power). The P&ID of the proposed TERS, integrated in the DCLL-PbLi loop, includes valves and instrumentation, as well as a revised design of the DCLL-PAV. The dimensioning of the permeator considered a tritium extraction efficiency of 80%. An exhaustive investigation on the vacuum system needed for the PAV is also presented. The choice of the most promising vacuum systems took into account the reliability and tritium compatibility of both high and rough pumps. Their pumping requirements, which are dependent on the PAV efficiency, tritium solubility and tritium partial pressure in the loop, are also discussed in this work.