@article{19075, abstract = {Thermoelectric (TE) materials can convert the heat produced during biochemical reactions into electrical signals, enabling the self-powered detection of biomarkers. In this work, we design and fabricate a simple Ag2Se nanofilm-based TE biosensor to precisely quantify hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels in liquid samples. A chemical reaction involving horseradish peroxidase, ABTS and H2O2 in the specimens produces a photothermal agent—ABTS (2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) free radical, which triggers the heat fluctuations at the TE sensor through the photo-thermal effect, eventually enabling the sensing of H2O2. Consequently, the constructed sensor can achieve a detection limit of 0.26 μM by a three-leg TE device design. Further investigations suggest that the application of our TE sensor can be extended in testing H2O2 in beverages (including milk, soda water, and lemonade) and evaluating the load of bacterial pathogens relevant to dental diseases and infections including Streptococcus sanguinis and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with high analytical accuracy. This strategy utilizes the combination of high thermoelectric performance with chemical reactions to realize a straightforward and accurate biomarker detection method, making it suitable for applications in medical diagnostics, personalized health monitoring, and the food industry.}, author = {Ma, Huangshui and Pu, Shiyu and Jia, Shiyu and Xu, Shengduo and Yu, Qiwei and Yang, Lei and Wu, Hao and Sun, Qiang}, issn = {2040-3372}, journal = {Nanoscale}, number = {10}, pages = {5858--5868}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, title = {{Laser-assisted thermoelectric-enhanced hydrogen peroxide biosensors based on Ag2Se nanofilms for sensitive detection of bacterial pathogens}}, doi = {10.1039/d4nr04860a}, volume = {17}, year = {2025}, } @article{13368, abstract = {Scanning nanoscale superconducting quantum interference devices (nanoSQUIDs) are of growing interest for highly sensitive quantitative imaging of magnetic, spintronic, and transport properties of low-dimensional systems. Utilizing specifically designed grooved quartz capillaries pulled into a sharp pipette, we have fabricated the smallest SQUID-on-tip (SOT) devices with effective diameters down to 39 nm. Integration of a resistive shunt in close proximity to the pipette apex combined with self-aligned deposition of In and Sn, has resulted in SOTs with a flux noise of 42 nΦ0 Hz−1/2, yielding a record low spin noise of 0.29 μB Hz−1/2. In addition, the new SOTs function at sub-Kelvin temperatures and in high magnetic fields of over 2.5 T. Integrating the SOTs into a scanning probe microscope allowed us to image the stray field of a single Fe3O4 nanocube at 300 mK. Our results show that the easy magnetization axis direction undergoes a transition from the 〈111〉 direction at room temperature to an in-plane orientation, which could be attributed to the Verwey phase transition in Fe3O4.}, author = {Anahory, Y. and Naren, H. R. and Lachman, E. O. and Buhbut Sinai, S. and Uri, A. and Embon, L. and Yaakobi, E. and Myasoedov, Y. and Huber, M. E. and Klajn, Rafal and Zeldov, E.}, issn = {2040-3372}, journal = {Nanoscale}, keywords = {General Materials Science}, number = {5}, pages = {3174--3182}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, title = {{SQUID-on-tip with single-electron spin sensitivity for high-field and ultra-low temperature nanomagnetic imaging}}, doi = {10.1039/c9nr08578e}, volume = {12}, year = {2020}, } @article{17911, abstract = {Single-molecule break junction measurements deliver a huge number of conductance vs. electrode separation traces. During such measurements, the target molecules may bind to the electrodes in different geometries, and the evolution and rupture of the single-molecule junction may also follow distinct trajectories. The unraveling of the various typical trace classes is a prerequisite to the proper physical interpretation of the data. Here we exploit the efficient feature recognition properties of neural networks to automatically find the relevant trace classes. To eliminate the need for manually labeled training data we apply a combined method, which automatically selects training traces according to the extreme values of principal component projections or some auxiliary measured quantities. Then the network captures the features of these characteristic traces and generalizes its inference to the entire dataset. The use of a simple neural network structure also enables a direct insight into the decision-making mechanism. We demonstrate that this combined machine learning method is efficient in the unsupervised recognition of unobvious, but highly relevant trace classes within low and room temperature gold–4,4′ bipyridine–gold single-molecule break junction data.}, author = {Magyarkuti, András and Balogh, Nóra and Balogh, Zoltán and Venkataraman, Latha and Halbritter, András}, issn = {2040-3372}, journal = {Nanoscale}, number = {15}, pages = {8355--8363}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, title = {{Unsupervised feature recognition in single-molecule break junction data}}, doi = {10.1039/d0nr00467g}, volume = {12}, year = {2020}, } @article{13341, abstract = {Scanning nanoscale superconducting quantum interference devices (nanoSQUIDs) are of growing interest for highly sensitive quantitative imaging of magnetic, spintronic, and transport properties of low-dimensional systems. Utilizing specifically designed grooved quartz capillaries pulled into a sharp pipette, we have fabricated the smallest SQUID-on-tip (SOT) devices with effective diameters down to 39 nm. Integration of a resistive shunt in close proximity to the pipette apex combined with self-aligned deposition of In and Sn, have resulted in SOT with a flux noise of 42 n$\Phi_0$Hz$^{-1/2}$, yielding a record low spin noise of 0.29 $\mu_B$Hz$^{-1/2}$. In addition, the new SOTs function at sub-Kelvin temperatures and in high magnetic fields of over 2.5 T. Integrating the SOTs into a scanning probe microscope allowed us to image the stray field of a single Fe$_3$O$_4$ nanocube at 300 mK. Our results show that the easy magnetization axis direction undergoes a transition from the (111) direction at room temperature to an in-plane orientation, which could be attributed to the Verwey phase transition in Fe$_3$O$_4$.}, author = {Anahory, Y. and Naren, H. R. and Lachman, E. O. and Sinai, S. Buhbut and Uri, A. and Embon, L. and Yaakobi, E. and Myasoedov, Y. and Huber, M. E. and Klajn, Rafal and Zeldov, E.}, issn = {2040-3372}, journal = {Nanoscale}, number = {5}, pages = {3174--3182}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, title = {{SQUID-on-tip with single-electron spin sensitivity for high-field and ultra-low temperature nanomagnetic imaging}}, doi = {10.1039/C9NR08578E}, volume = {12}, year = {2020}, } @article{17932, abstract = {We compare the ultrafast charge transfer dynamics of molecules on epitaxial graphene and bilayer graphene grown on Ni(111) interfaces through first principles calculations and X-ray resonant photoemission spectroscopy. We use 4,4′-bipyridine as a prototypical molecule for these explorations as the energy level alignment of core-excited molecular orbitals allows ultrafast injection of electrons from a substrate to a molecule on a femtosecond timescale. We show that the ultrafast injection of electrons from the substrate to the molecule is ∼4 times slower on weakly coupled bilayer graphene than on epitaxial graphene. Through our experiments and calculations, we can attribute this to a difference in the density of states close to the Fermi level between graphene and bilayer graphene. We therefore show how graphene coupling with the substrate influences charge transfer dynamics between organic molecules and graphene interfaces.}, author = {Ravikumar, Abhilash and Kladnik, Gregor and Müller, Moritz and Cossaro, Albano and Bavdek, Gregor and Patera, Laerte L. and Sánchez-Portal, Daniel and Venkataraman, Latha and Morgante, Alberto and Brivio, Gian Paolo and Cvetko, Dean and Fratesi, Guido}, issn = {2040-3372}, journal = {Nanoscale}, number = {17}, pages = {8014--8022}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, title = {{Tuning ultrafast electron injection dynamics at organic-graphene/metal interfaces}}, doi = {10.1039/c7nr08737c}, volume = {10}, year = {2018}, } @article{17933, abstract = {Break-junction measurements are typically aimed at characterizing electronic properties of single molecules bound between two metal electrodes. Although these measurements have provided structure–function relationships for such devices, there is little work that studies the impact of molecule-molecule interactions on junction characteristics. Here, we use a scanning tunneling microscope based break-junction technique to study pi-stacked dimer junctions formed with two amine-terminated conjugated molecules. We show that the conductance, force and flicker noise of such dimers differ dramatically when compared with the corresponding monomer junctions and discuss the implications of these results on intra- and inter-molecular charge transport.}, author = {Magyarkuti, András and Adak, Olgun and Halbritter, Andras and Venkataraman, Latha}, issn = {2040-3372}, journal = {Nanoscale}, number = {7}, pages = {3362--3368}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, title = {{Electronic and mechanical characteristics of stacked dimer molecular junctions}}, doi = {10.1039/c7nr08354h}, volume = {10}, year = {2018}, } @article{13385, abstract = {Novel light-responsive nanoparticles were synthesized by decorating the surfaces of gold and silver nanoparticles with a nitrospiropyran molecular photoswitch. Upon exposure to UV light in nonpolar solvents, these nanoparticles self-assembled to afford spherical aggregates, which disassembled rapidly when the UV stimulus was turned off. The sizes of these aggregates depended on the nanoparticle concentration, and their lifetimes could be controlled by adjusting the surface concentration of nitrospiropyran on the nanoparticles. The conformational flexibility of nitrospiropyran, which was altered by modifying the structure of the background ligand, had a profound impact on the self-assembly process. By coating the nanoparticles with a spiropyran lacking the nitro group, a conceptually different self-assembly system, relying on a reversible proton transfer, was realized. The resulting particles spontaneously (in the dark) assembled into aggregates that could be readily disassembled upon exposure to blue light.}, author = {Kundu, Pintu K. and Das, Sanjib and Ahrens, Johannes and Klajn, Rafal}, issn = {2040-3372}, journal = {Nanoscale}, keywords = {General Materials Science}, number = {46}, pages = {19280--19286}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, title = {{Controlling the lifetimes of dynamic nanoparticle aggregates by spiropyran functionalization}}, doi = {10.1039/c6nr05959g}, volume = {8}, year = {2016}, } @article{17955, abstract = {The development of molecular components functioning as switches, rectifiers or amplifiers is a great challenge in molecular electronics. A desirable property of such components is functional robustness, meaning that the intrinsic functionality of components must be preserved regardless of the strategy used to integrate them into the final assemblies. Here, this issue is investigated for molecular diodes based on N-phenylbenzamide (NPBA) backbones. The transport properties of molecular junctions derived from NPBA are characterized while varying the nature of the functional groups interfacing the backbone and the gold electrodes required for break-junction measurements. Combining experimental and theoretical methods, it is shown that at low bias (<0.85 V) transport is determined by the same frontier molecular orbital originating from the NPBA core, regardless of the anchoring group employed. The magnitude of rectification, however, is strongly dependent on the strength of the electronic coupling at the gold–NPBA interface and on the spatial distribution of the local density of states of the dominant transport channel of the molecular junction.}, author = {Koepf, Matthieu and Koenigsmann, Christopher and Ding, Wendu and Batra, Arunbah and Negre, Christian F. A. and Venkataraman, Latha and Brudvig, Gary W. and Batista, Victor S. and Schmuttenmaer, Charles A. and Crabtree, Robert H.}, issn = {2040-3372}, journal = {Nanoscale}, number = {36}, pages = {16357--16362}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, title = {{Controlling the rectification properties of molecular junctions through molecule–electrode coupling}}, doi = {10.1039/c6nr04830g}, volume = {8}, year = {2016}, }