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Effective detection of methamphetamine (Met) requires a fast, sensitive, and cheap testing assay. However, commercially available methods require expensive instruments and highly trained operators, which are time-consuming and labor-intensive. Herein, an antibody-modified graphene transistor assay is developed for sensitive and minute-level detection of Met in complex environments. The anti-Met probe captured charged targets within 120 s, leading to a p-doping effect near the graphene channel. The limit of detection reaches 50 aM (5.0 × 10−17 M) Met in solution. The graphene transistor would be a valuable tool for Met detection effective prevention of drug abuse.

With the development of wireless technology and flexible electronics, flexible frequency reconfigurable antennas have been directly used as sensors to detect mechanical signals. As an important frequency reconfigurable antenna, microstrip antenna has been widely studied in the field of flexible and flexible electronics in recent years. However, the stretchability of microstrip antennas usually comes at the cost of reducing the conductivity of the radiated conductor. Here, we report a flexible force sensitive frequency reconfigurable microstrip antenna, which fabricated by silver fiber conductive fabric with a double-wire braided structure. In order to increase the detection of pressure, an elastic dielectric layer with a microhemispheric array was introduced into the microstrip antenna to extend the frequency band width of the reconfigurable antenna. The relative frequency of the antenna varied from 0% to −12.9%, and the sensing sensitivity was −1.9 kPa−1. As potential applications, we demonstrate the use of a flexible frequency reconfigurable antenna base on stretchable conductive fabric as a strain sensor capable of measuring bending angle and movements of a human finger. The change in the resonance frequency with the externally applied tensile strain in this antenna design has a sensitivity of 3.448, manifesting a 4.19- and a 13.79-fold increase of sensitivity when compared to those in previous reports that used arched or both-planes serpentine rectangular microstrip antenna. This is of great significance for the application of wearable antenna in wireless mechanical sensing technology.

The pursuit of optoelectronic devices operating in mid-infrared regime is driven by both fundamental interests and commercial applications. The narrow bandgap (0.3 eV) of layered Bi2Se3 makes it a promising material for mid-infrared photodetection. However, the weak absorption of mid-infrared optical power and high dark current level restrict its performance. Here, a supply-control technique is applied to modulate the growth mode of Bi2Se3 crystal, and Bi2Se3 crystals with various morphologies are obtained. The nanoplates pattern transits from maze to freestanding when source mass was tuned. Due to the strong infrared absorption and photoelectric conversion efficiency of vertical Bi2Se3 nanoplates, the as-prepared vertical Bi2Se3 nanoplates/Si heterojunction shows excellent photoresponse and extremely low dark current. Among these devices based on different Bi2Se3 morphologies, freestanding nanoplates show the optimal mid-infrared characteristics, namely a photo-to-dark ratio of 2.0 × 104, a dark current of 0.21 pA, a response time of 23 ms, a specific detectivity of 6.1 × 1010 Jones (calculated) and 1.2 × 1010 Jones (measured) under 2.7 μm illumination and at room temperature. Notably, the specific detectivity of our devices are comparable to commercial InGaAs photodetectors. With the tunable- morphology growing technique and excellent photoresponding characteristics, Bi2Se3 nanomaterials are worth attention in optoelectronic field.

High-performance infrared (IR) photodetectors made by low dimensional materials promise a wide range of applications in communication, security and biomedicine. Moreover, light-harvesting effects based on novel plasmonic materials and their combinations with two-dimensional (2D) materials have raised tremendous interest in recent years, as they may potentially help the device complement or surpass currently commercialized IR photodetectors. Graphene is a particularly attractive plasmonic material because graphene plasmons are electrically tunable with a high degree of electromagnetic confinement in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) to terahertz regime and the field concentration can be further enhanced by forming nanostructures. Here, we report an efficient mid-IR room-temperature photodetector enhanced by plasmonic effect in graphene nanoresonators (GNRs)/graphene heterostructure. The plasmon polaritons in GNRs are size-dependent with strong field localization. Considering that the size and density of GNRs are controllable by chemical vapor deposition method, our work opens a cost-effective and scalable pathway to fabricate efficient IR optoelectronic devices with wavelength tunability.

Metal-catalyzed chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been broadly employed for large-scale production of high-quality graphene. However, a following transfer process to targeted substrates is needed, which is incompatible with current silicon technology. We here report a new CVD approach to form nanographene and nanographite films with accurate thickness control directly on non-catalytic substrates such as silicon dioxide and quartz at 800 °C. The growth time is as short as a few seconds. The approach includes using 9-bis(diethylamino)silylanthracene as the carbon source and an atomic layer deposition (ALD) controlling system. The structure of the formed nanographene and nanographite films were characterized using atomic force microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman scattering, and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The nanographite film exhibits a transmittance higher than 80% at 550 nm and a sheet electrical resistance of 2000 ohms per square at room temperature. A negative temperature-dependence of the resistance of the nanographite film is also observed. Moreover, the thickness of the films can be precisely controlled via the deposition cycles using an ALD system, which promotes great application potential for optoelectronic and thermoelectronic-devices.

A simple and effective air-annealing technique was developed to stably improve both the electrical conductivity and light transmission of pristine graphene. After the graphene film was annealed in air at 250 °C for 80 min, the mobility and carrier concentration were both significantly enhanced, and the sheet resistance was greatly reduced with a decrease rate of ~33%. Meanwhile, the transparency was also improved by more than 3%. The mechanism is carefully discussed. The reason might be that air-annealing conditions provide a suitable atmosphere to etch and remove amorphous carbons. More importantly, the enhanced transparent conductive properties of the air-annealed graphene films were extraordinarily stable, and remained almost unchanged for 100 days.