An organometallic dye, europium tetrakis dibenzoylmethide triethylammonium (EuD 4 TEA) and gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) impregnated paper based sensor platform have been utilized for development of fluorescence turn-on cyanide assay in aqueous media. The ordinary filter paper with 6 m pore size were employed as solid support that facilitates impregnation of EuD 4 TEA and gold nanoparticles and provides durability. Detection mechanism relying on two processes (i) dissolution of gold nanoparticles causing fluorescence recovery and (ii) ligand exchange of triethyl amine with CN group stimulating cyanide specific fluorescence enhancement. The paper platform exhibit naked eye distinguishable color transition upon CN − addition from 10 −2 to 10 −12 M. To standardize the methodology a homemade image processing algorithm has been developed that enabling calibration of color change and quantify CN − concentration. The described algorithm is applicable to Android smart phones and facilitate transforming these devices into a quantitative cyanide detector. The overall methodology provides instrument free cyanide detection and therefore rapid control of water quality and safety at off-field conditions.

This study reports on a hand-held volatilome analyzer for selective determination of clinically relevant biomarkers in exhaled breath. The sensing platform is based on electrospun polymer nanofiber-multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) sensing microchannels. Polymer nanofibers of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF), polystyrene (PS), and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) incorporated with MWCNT exhibits a stable response to interferences of humidity and CO and provides selective deformations upon exposure of exhaled breath target volatilomes acetone and toluene, exhibiting correlation to diabetes and lung cancer, respectively. The sensing microchannels "P1" (PVDF-MWCNT), "P2" (PS-MWCNT), and "P3" (PMMA-MWCNT) are integrated with a microfluidic cartridge (μ-card) that facilitates collection and concentration of exhaled breath. The volatilome analyzer consists of a conductivity monitoring unit, signal conditioning circuitries and a low energy display module. A combinatorial operation algorithm was developed for analyzing normalized resistivity changes of the sensing microchannels upon exposure to breath in the concentration ranges between 35 ppb and 3.0 ppm for acetone and 1 ppb and 10 ppm for toluene. Subsequently, responses of volatilomes from individuals in the different risk groups of diabetes were evaluated for validation of the proposed methodology. We foresee that proposed methodology provides an avenue for rapid detection of volatilomes thereby enabling point of care diagnosis in high-risk group individuals.

Abstract-A new resonance breaking in-fiber switch as an all-optical network component is investigated and presented. A transient grating is applied to break the transverse resonance of the fundamental waveguide mode and the power coupled into the higher order propagating mode is computed using coupled mode theory (CMT). The coupling of the modes with the grating forming beams in the evanescent region of the waveguide is investigated with four wave mixing (FWM). High conversion efficiency is calculated in the case of perfect phase matching at communication wavelength 1550 nm. The conversion efficiency of the proposed structure is considered in terms of third-order nonlinear susceptibility, and the effect of design and tuning parameters are investigated for grating forming geometry and laser beam intensity, respectively.

An all-optical pulse controlled switch/modulator based on evanescent coupling between a polymer slab waveguide and a single mode fiber is demonstrated. Very fast all-optical modulation/switching is achieved via Kerr effect of the nonlinear polymer placed in the evanescent region of the optical fiber. Local refractive index perturbation (Δn=-1.45612×10(-5)) on the thin film leads to 0.374 nW power modulation at the fiber output, which results in a switching efficiency of ≈1.5%.

Conductive polymer-electrospun polymer nanofiber network was combined to host iron oxide nanoparticles providing micrometer thick sensing interface. The sensor has fabricated as free-standing fabric exhibiting 10 to 100 KOhm base resistivity upon bias applied. The moving object has been sensed through the electrostatic interactions between fibers and object. The sensing range has been found to be 1-5 cm above the surface of fabric. By the controlled combination of conductive polymers electrospun polymer nanofibers effective device miniaturization has been provided without loss of performance. The noncontact motion sensor platform has unique flexibility and light weight holding a potential for wearable sensor technology.