Substantial broadband photoconductive gain has been realized for organic, thin-film photodetectors with a poly(3-hexylthiophene):phenyl-C61-butyric-acid-methyl-ester (P3HT:PCBM) active layer at low bias voltages. External quantum efficiencies upwards of 1500% were achieved when a semicontinuous gold layer was introduced at the anode interface. Significant gain was also observed in the sub-band gap, near infrared region where the external quantum efficiency approached 100% despite the lack of a sensitizer. The gain response was highly dependent on the thickness of the active layer of the photodetector with the best results achieved with the thinnest devices. The gain is the result of the injection of secondary electrons due to hole charge trapping at the semicontinuous gold layer.

In this paper we study the stability of few layer graphene (5-7 layers) doped with gold nanoparticles through spin coating of a gold (III) chloride solution. Specifically sheet resistance, optical transmittance and surface morphology were monitored over a period of four weeks. Through scanning electron microscopy we observed that the gold nanoparticles of 29.1±1.3 nm nm diameters, which were formed on surfaces freshly doped with a 20 mM solution, agglomerate and fuse over the period of four weeks into larger particles of 50-110 nm diameters. At the end of four weeks of aging, regardless in air or vacuum, the optical transmittance at 550 nm for the doped samples resumed a value close to that of undoped samples. During these four weeks, the sheet resistances of the samples doped with 20 mM gold chloride also increased from 130 ohm/sq to 300 ohm/sq,

Currently used cancer marker for prostate adenocarcinoma (PC), serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA), greatly overestimates PC population. Patients with high PSA levels have to undergo unnecessary but physically painful and expensive procedure such as prostate biopsies repeatedly. The reliability of PC test can be greatly increased by finding a protein that is secreted selectively by malignant, but not normal, prostate cells. A recently discovered novel protein, referred as neuroendocrine marker (NEM), is secreted only by malignant prostate cells and released in blood circulation. Although NEM seems to be significantly more reliable based on the data obtained from a limited cohort, currently available NEM ELISA is not suitable for undertaking a large study. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to develop an alternative, label-free assay system that can reliably measure NEM and PSA in patient samples. Herein an optofluidic chip that can reliably detect PSA as well as NEM in patient samples has been developed. The optofluidic chip, which consists of arrayed nanopore-based sensors fabricated from anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) thin film, offers improved sensitivity upon the optimization of the concentration of the detector antibodies immobilized on the sensor surface. The results demonstrate that the chip is reliable, extremely sensitive and requires just 1 μl of patient serum (or even less) to measure PSA and NEM even in a non-cancer individual. Compared with the traditional ELISA for PSA, the nanopore-based sensor assay is 50–100 fold more sensitive, and offers many advantages such as elimination of labeled antigen, need for sophisticated equipment and highly trained individuals. These advantages, along with the low cost, should make the technology suitable for point-of-care application to screen elderly male populations for PC and to monitor the progress of patients undergoing PC treatment.

No abstract

No abstract