Proteinoids (thermal proteins) are produced by heating amino acids to their melting point and initiation of polymerisation to produce polymeric chains. Amino acid-like molecules, or proteinoids, can condense at high temperatures to create aggregation structures called proteinoid microspheres, which have been reported to exhibit strong electrical oscillations. When the amino acids L-glutamic acid (L-Glu) and L-aspartic acid (L-Asp) were combined with electric fields of varying frequencies and intensities, electrical activity resulted. We recorded electrical activity of the proteinoid microspheres’ ensembles via a pair of differential electrodes. This is analogous to extracellular recording in physiology or EEG in neuroscience but at micro-level. We discovered that the ensembles produce spikes of electrical potential, an average duration of each spike is 26 min and average amplitude is 1 mV. The spikes are typically grouped in trains of two spikes. The electrical activity of the ensembles can be tuned by external stimulation because ensembles of proteinoid microspheres can generate and propagate electrical activity when exposed to electric fields.

Proteinoids (thermal proteins) are produced by heating amino acids to their melting point and initiation of polymerisation to produce polymeric chains. Amino acid-like molecules, or proteinoids, can condense at high temperatures to create aggregation structures called proteinoid microspheres, which have been reported to exhibit strong electrical oscillations. When the amino acids L-Glutamic acid (L-Glu) and L-Aspartic acid (L-Asp) were combined with electric fields of varying frequencies and intensities, electrical activity resulted. We recorded electrical activity of the proteinoid microspheres’ ensembles via a pair of differential electrodes. This is analogous to extracellular recording in physiology or EEG in neuroscience but at micro-level. We discovered that the ensembles produce spikes of electrical potential, an average duration of each spike is 26 min and average amplitude is 1 mV. The spikes are typically grouped in trains of two spikes. The electrical activity of the ensembles can be tuned by external stimulation because ensembles of proteinoid microspheres can generate and propagate electrical activity when exposed to electric fields.

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Low power gas sensors with high sensitivity and selectivity are desired for many practical applications. Devices based on organic field effect transistors are promising because they can be fabricated at modest cost and are low power devices. Organic field effect transistors fabricated in bottom-gate bottom-contact configuration using the organic semiconductor [2,5-(2-octyldodecyl)-3,6-diketopyrrolopyrrole-alt-5,5-(2,5-di(thien-2-yl)thieno] [3,2-b]thiophene) (DPP-T-TT) were systematically investigated to determine the response characteristics to a series of alkylamines and ammonia. The highest sensitivity was to dibutylamine with a limit of detection of 0.025 ppb, followed by n-butylamine, 0.056 ppb, and ammonia, 2.17 ppb. A model was constructed based on the Antoine equation that successfully allows the empirical prediction of the sensitivity and selectivity of the gas sensor to various analytes including amines and alcohols based on the Antoine C parameter and the heat of the vaporization of the analyte.

No abstract