Biomedical subjects

Chongwu Zhou

Publications and source records attributed to Chongwu Zhou.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Novel nanotube-on-insulator (NOI) approach toward single-walled carbon nanotube devices.

We present a novel nanotube-on-insulator (NOI) approach for producing high-yield nanotube devices based on aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes. First, we managed to grow aligned nanotube arrays with controlled density on crystalline, insulating sapphire substrates, which bear analogy to industry-adopted silicon-on-insulator substrates. On the basis of the nanotube arrays, we demonstrated registration-free fabrication of both top-gated and polymer-electrolyte-gated field-effect transistors with minimized parasitic capacitance. In addition, we have developed a way to transfer these aligned nanotube arrays to flexible substrates successfully. Our approach has great potential for high-density, large-scale integrated systems based on carbon nanotubes for both micro- and flexible electronics.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Transparent, conductive, and flexible carbon nanotube films and their application in organic light-emitting diodes.

We have carried out comparative studies on transparent conductive thin films made with two kinds of commercial carbon nanotubes: HiPCO and arc-discharge nanotubes. These films have been further exploited as hole-injection electrodes for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) on both rigid glass and flexible substrates. Our experiments reveal that films based on arc-discharge nanotubes are overwhelmingly better than HiPCO-nanotube-based films in all of the critical aspects, including surface roughness, sheet resistance, and transparency. Further improvement in arc-discharge nanotube films has been achieved by using PEDOT passivation for better surface smoothness and using SOCl2 doping for lower sheet resistance. The optimized films show a typical sheet resistance of approximately 160 Omega/ square at 87% transparency and have been used successfully to make OLEDs with high stabilities and long lifetimes.

Elasticity↗

PubMed2006

Whole-cell sensing for a harmful bloom-forming microscopic alga by measuring antibody--antigen forces.

Aureococcus anophagefferens, a harmful bloom-forming alga responsible for brown tides in estuaries of the Middle Atlantic U.S., has been investigated by atomic force microscopy for the first time, using probes functionalized with a monoclonal antibody specific for the alga. The rupture force between a single monoclonal antibody and the surface of A. anophagefferens was experimentally found to be 246 +/- 11 pN at the load rate of 12 nN/s. Force histograms for A. anophagefferens and other similarly-sized algae are presented and analyzed. The results illustrate the effects of load rates, and demonstrate that force-distance measurements can be used to build biosensors with high signal-to-noise ratios for A. anophagefferens. The methods described in this paper can be used, in principle, to construct sensors with single-cell resolution for arbitrary cells for which monoclonal antibodies are available.

Antigen-Antibody Complex↗

PubMed2005

Efficient synthesis and electronic studies of core-shell nanowires based on colossal magnetoresistive manganites.

We report our recent study on the pulsed laser deposition process in the synthesis of colossal magnetoresistive MgO/LaCaMnO3 and MgO/LaSrMnO3 core-shell nanowires. A highly efficient process has been developed by depositing an epitaxial layer of manganite onto randomly oriented MgO nanowires grown on SiO2/Si substrates. In addition, in-depth studies revealed that the sample-target distance played a critical role in determining the core-shell nanowire quality. The MgO/LaCaMnO3 and MgO/LaSrMnO3 nanowires opened up the unique opportunity to explore a number of intriguing physical properties at the nanoscale. Remarkable metal-insulator phase transitions and pronounced colossal magnetoresistance have been observed in both LaCaMnO3 and LaSrMnO3 nanostructures.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Complementary detection of prostate-specific antigen using In2O3 nanowires and carbon nanotubes.

We report complementary detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) using n-type In2O3 nanowires and p-type carbon nanotubes. Our innovation involves developing an approach to covalently attach antibodies to In2O3 NW surfaces via the onsite surface synthesis of phosphonic acid-succinylimide ester. Electronic measurements under dry conditions revealed complementary response for In2O3 NW and SWNT devices after the binding of PSA. Real-time detection in solution has also been demonstrated for PSA down to 5 ng/mL, a benchmark concentration significant for clinical diagnosis of prostate cancer, which is the most frequently diagnosed cancer.

Indium↗

PubMed2005

Selective functionalization of In2O3 nanowire mat devices for biosensing applications.

A strategy to covalently attach biological molecules to the electrochemically active surface of indium oxide nanowire (In2O3 NW) mat devices is presented. A self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of 4-(1,4-dihydroxybenzene)butyl phosphonic acid (HQ-PA) was generated on an indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass and In2O3 NWs surface. The chemical steps required for surface derivatization were optimized on an ITO surface prior to modifying the In2O3 NWs. The hydroquinone group contained in the HQ-PA SAM was electrochemically oxidized to quinone (Q-PA) at +330 mV. The monolayer of Q-PA was allowed to react with a thiol-terminated DNA. The DNA was paired to its complementary strand tagged with a fluorescence dye. Attachment of DNA was verified using fluorescence microscopy. A device was subsequently prepared on a SiO2-supported mat of In2O3 NWs by depositing gold electrodes on the mat surface. The reaction strategy optimized on ITO was applied to this In2O3 NW-based device. Arrays of In2O3 NWs on a single substrate were electrochemically activated in a selective manner to Q-PA. Activated In2O3 NWs underwent reaction with HS-DNA and gave a positive fluorescence response after pairing with the dye-DNA. The unactivated In2O3 NWs gave no response, thus demonstrating selective functionalization of an In2O3 NW array. This can be considered a key step for the future fabrication of large-scale, inexpensive, nanoscale biosensors.

Biosensing Techniques↗

PubMed2005

Template-free directional growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes on a- and r-plane sapphire.

We report high-throughput growth of highly aligned single-walled carbon nanotube arrays on a-plane and r-plane sapphire substrates. This is achieved using chemical vapor deposition with ferritin as the catalyst. The nanotubes are aligned normal to the [0001] direction for growth on the a-plane sapphire. They are typically tens of micrometers long, with a narrow diameter distribution of 1.34 +/- 0.30 nm. In contrast, no orientation was achieved for growth on the c-plane and m-plane sapphire, or when Fe films, instead of ferritin, were used as the catalyst. Such orientation control is likely related to the interaction between carbon nanotubes and the sapphire substrate, which is supported by the observation that when a second layer of nanotubes was grown, they followed the gas flow direction. These aligned nanotube arrays may enable the construction of integrable and scalable nanotube devices and systems.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Single crystalline magnetite nanotubes.

We descried a method to synthesize single crystalline Fe3O4 nanotubes by wet-etching the MgO inner cores of MgO/Fe3O4 core-shell nanowires. Homogeneous Fe3O4 nanotubes with controllable length, diameter, and wall thickness have been obtained. Resistivity of the Fe3O4 nanotubes was estimated to be approximately 4 x 10-2 Omega cm at room temperature. Magnetoresistance of approximately 1% was observed at T = 77 K when a magnetic field of B = 0.7 T was applied. The synthetic strategy presented here may be extended to a variety of materials such as YBCO, PZT, and LCMO which should provide ideal candidates for fundamental studies of superconductivity, piezoelectricity, and ferromagnetism in nanoscale structures.

Ferrosoferric Oxide↗

PubMed2005

Determination of the small band gap of carbon nanotubes using the ambipolar random telegraph signal.

The ambipolar random telegraph signal (RTS) (i.e., RTS in both hole conduction at negative gate biases and electron conduction at positive gate biases) is observed in an ambipolar carbon nanotube field-effect transistor (CNT-FET). Then, the ambipolar RTS is used to extract the small band gap of the SWNT. The determination of the small band gap CNT using RTS demonstrates a potentially high accuracy and stability. Other methods are provided to confirm the small band gap of the SWNT.

Computer Simulation↗

PubMed2004

charge storage behavior of nanowire transistors functionalized with bis(terpyridine)-Fe(II) molecules: dependence on molecular structure.

We studied the influence of three bis(terpyridine)-Fe(II) molecules-(X-tpy)2FeCl2 (X = H (1), SAc (2), and 4-phenyl-SAc (3)-on charge storage of a nanowire transistor. The molecules were assembled on the surface of an indium oxide nanowire that forms the conduction channel of the transistor. We found that the charge storage characteristics of such a device strongly depends on the structure of the terpyridine ligand: both retention time (tau) and threshold voltage shift (DeltaVth) increased in the order of 1 < 2 < 3, with tau of 200 s, 12 h, and 287 h and DeltaVth at 4.8, 12, and 28 V, respectively. Furthermore, when we placed the devices with molecules 1 and 3 in a vacuum and recorded the I-Vg curves in a two-day period, we observed higher hysteresis stability for device with molecule 3. For example, DeltaVth was reduced from 4.8 to 1.7 V for the device with molecule 1, while there was no reduction in DeltaVth for the device with molecule 2. These results suggest that thiolate headgroup and/or longer ligand length raises the charge tunneling barrier and results in longer charge retention and wider, more stable memory window. This work demonstrates the potential of chemical synthesis toward tailored device characteristics.

Journal Article↗