Metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) thin films are of critical importance to both fundamental research and practical applications of gas sensors. Herein, a high‐performance H2 sensor based on palladium (Pd) and rhodium (Rh) co‐functionalized Fe2O3 films with an ultrathin thickness of 8.9 nm deposited by using atomic layer deposition is reported. The sensor delivers an exceptional response of 105.9 toward 10 ppm H2 at 230 °C, as well as high selectivity, immunity to humidity, and low detection limit (43 ppb), which are superior to the reported MOS sensors. Importantly, the Fe2O3 film sensor under dynamic H2 detection is for the first time observed by operando transmission electron microscopy, which provides deterministic evidence for structure evolution of MOS during sensing reactions. To further reveal the sensing mechanism, density functional theory calculations are performed to elucidate the sensitization effect of PdRh catalysts. Mechanistic studies suggest that Pd promotes the adsorption and dissociation of H2 to generate PdHx, while Rh promotes the dissociation of oxygen adsorbed on the surface, thereby jointly promoting the redox reactions on the films. A wireless H2 detection system is also successfully demonstrated using the thin film sensors, certifying a great potential of the strategy to practical sensors.
Dark-field microscopy (DFM) based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) was used for observation of experimental phenomena, which is a hopeful nondamaging and nonphotobleaching biological imaging technique. In this strategy, plasma nanoaggregates with stronger scattering efficiency were formed in the presence of the target, causing a "turn-on" phenomenon, when asymmetry modified AuNPs were introduced as probes with zero LSPR background. First, Au 1 −N 3 probe and Au 2 −CC probe were designed for the cycloaddition between azide and alkyne to form AuNP dimers under catalytic action by Cu + , which was obtained from the reduction of Cu 2+ by sodium ascorbate. The two kinds of probes were successfully used for the detection of Cu 2+ in rat serum. Then, to apply this concept to protein on cells, DNA and antibody were modified on the probes. DNA1/Au 1 −N 3 probe and anti-HER2/Au 2 −CC probe were proposed for HER2 protein DFM on cells. By designing an aptamer sequence in primer, the rolling circle amplification (RCA) was introduced in HER2 DFM on cells, and the image signal was much brighter than that from no-RCA. The unique design made it easier to discriminate the target signal from background noise in cell DFM. This method might be used in the fields of molecular diagnostics and cell imaging.
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