Mohammad Taghinejad
Postdoctoral Scholar, Materials Science and Engineering
Bio
My Research Interests: Terahertz science and technology; Ultrafast optics and photonics; Photocarrier dynamics; Nonlinear optics; Nanophotonics and plasmonics; Optical data processing and communication; Sensing, metrology, and spectroscopy; Quantum materials; Quantum transport; Low-dimensional materials.
Honors & Awards
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Sigma Xi Best Ph.D. Thesis Award, Georgia Institute of Technology (March 2021)
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SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship, Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) (May 2020)
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The ECE Graduate Research Assistant Excellence Award, Georgia Institute of Technology (March 2020)
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The Best Poster Award in IEEE Photonics Conference, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (October 2017)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
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Associate Editor, Journal of Nanophotonics (2023 - Present)
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Invited Guest Editor, Journal: Electronics (Special Issue) (2021 - Present)
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Invited Guest Editor, Journal: Symmetry (Special Issue) (2021 - Present)
Professional Education
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Master of Science in Engr, Georgia Institute of Technology (2016)
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Doctor of Philosophy, Georgia Institute of Technology (2020)
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Master of Science in Engr, University Of Tehran (2013)
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Bachelor of Engineering, University Of Shiraz (2010)
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Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology, Electrical & Computer Engineering (2020)
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M.Sc., Georgia Institute of Technology, Materials Science & Engineering (2016)
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M.Sc., University of Tehran, Solid State Physics & Electronics (2014)
Research Interests
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Race and Ethnicity
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Research Methods
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Science Education
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Technology and Education
All Publications
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Determining hot-carrier transport dynamics from terahertz emission.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
2023; 382 (6668): 299-305
Abstract
Understanding the ultrafast excitation and transport dynamics of plasmon-driven hot carriers is critical to the development of optoelectronics, photochemistry, and solar-energy harvesting. However, the ultrashort time and length scales associated with the behavior of these highly out-of-equilibrium carriers have impaired experimental verification of ab initio quantum theories. Here, we present an approach to studying plasmonic hot-carrier dynamics that analyzes the temporal waveform of coherent terahertz bursts radiated by photo-ejected hot carriers from designer nano-antennas with a broken symmetry. For ballistic carriers ejected from gold antennas, we find an ~11-femtosecond timescale composed of the plasmon lifetime and ballistic transport time. Polarization- and phase-sensitive detection of terahertz fields further grant direct access to their ballistic transport trajectory. Our approach opens explorations of ultrafast carrier dynamics in optically excited nanostructures.
View details for DOI 10.1126/science.adj5612
View details for PubMedID 37856614
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Tailored Dispersion of Spectro-Temporal Dynamics in Hot-Carrier Plasmonics.
Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)
2023; 10 (8): e2205434
Abstract
Ultrafast optical switching in plasmonic platforms relies on the third-order Kerr nonlinearity, which is tightly linked to the dynamics of hot carriers in nanostructured metals. Although extensively utilized, a fundamental understanding on the dependence of the switching dynamics upon optical resonances has often been overlooked. Here, all-optical control of resonance bands in a hybrid photonic-plasmonic crystal is employed as an empowering technique for probing the resonance-dependent switching dynamics upon hot carrier formation. Differential optical transmission measurements reveal an enhanced switching performance near the anti-crossing point arising from strong coupling between local and nonlocal resonance modes. Furthermore, entangled with hot-carrier dynamics, the nonlinear correspondence between optical resonances and refractive index change results in tailorable dispersion of recovery speeds which can notably deviate from the characteristic lifetime of hot carriers. The comprehensive understanding provides new protocols for optically characterizing hot-carrier dynamics and optimizing resonance-based all-optical switches for operations across the visible spectrum.
View details for DOI 10.1002/advs.202205434
View details for PubMedID 36658727
View details for PubMedCentralID PMC10015883
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Electrically driven reprogrammable phase-change metasurface reaching 80% efficiency.
Nature communications
2022; 13 (1): 1696
Abstract
Phase-change materials (PCMs) offer a compelling platform for active metaoptics, owing to their large index contrast and fast yet stable phase transition attributes. Despite recent advances in phase-change metasurfaces, a fully integrable solution that combines pronounced tuning measures, i.e., efficiency, dynamic range, speed, and power consumption, is still elusive. Here, we demonstrate an in situ electrically driven tunable metasurface by harnessing the full potential of a PCM alloy, Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST), to realize non-volatile, reversible, multilevel, fast, and remarkable optical modulation in the near-infrared spectral range. Such a reprogrammable platform presents a record eleven-fold change in the reflectance (absolute reflectance contrast reaching 80%), unprecedented quasi-continuous spectral tuning over 250nm, and switching speed that can potentially reach a few kHz. Our scalable heterostructure architecture capitalizes on the integration of a robust resistive microheater decoupled from an optically smart metasurface enabling good modal overlap with an ultrathin layer of the largest index contrast PCM to sustain high scattering efficiency even after several reversible phase transitions. We further experimentally demonstrate an electrically reconfigurable phase-change gradient metasurface capable of steering an incident light beam into different diffraction orders. This work represents a critical advance towards the development of fully integrable dynamic metasurfaces and their potential for beamforming applications.
View details for DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-29374-6
View details for PubMedID 35354813
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Engineering Radiative Energy Transfer and Directional Excitonic Emission in van der Waals Heterostructures
LASER & PHOTONICS REVIEWS
2022; 16 (6)
View details for DOI 10.1002/lpor.202100737
View details for Web of Science ID 000765059700001
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Dynamic Hybrid Metasurfaces.
Nano letters
2021
Abstract
Efficient hybrid plasmonic-photonic metasurfaces that simultaneously take advantage of the potential of both pure metallic and all-dielectric nanoantennas are identified as an emerging technology in flat optics. Nevertheless, postfabrication tunable hybrid metasurfaces are still elusive. Here, we present a reconfigurable hybrid metasurface platform by incorporating the phase-change material Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) into metal-dielectric meta-atoms for active and nonvolatile tuning of properties of light. We systematically design a reduced-dimension meta-atom, which selectively controls the hybrid plasmonic-photonic resonances of the metasurface via the dynamic change of optical constants of GST without compromising the scattering efficiency. As a proof-of-concept, we experimentally demonstrate two tunable metasurfaces that control the amplitude (with relative modulation depth as high as ≈80%) or phase (with tunability >230°) of incident light promising for high-contrast optical switching and efficient anomalous to specular beam deflection, respectively. Our findings further substantiate dynamic hybrid metasurfaces as compelling candidates for next-generation reprogrammable meta-optics.
View details for DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c03625
View details for PubMedID 33481600
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Synthetic Engineering of Morphology and Electronic Band Gap in Lateral Heterostructures of Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides
ACS NANO
2020; 14 (5): 6323–30
Abstract
Heterostructures of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) can offer a plethora of opportunities in condensed matter physics, materials science, and device engineering. However, despite state-of-the-art demonstrations, most current methods lack enough degrees of freedom for the synthesis of heterostructures with engineerable properties. Here, we demonstrate that combining a postgrowth chalcogen-swapping procedure with the standard lithography enables the realization of lateral TMD heterostructures with controllable dimensions and spatial profiles in predefined locations on a substrate. Indeed, our protocol receives a monolithic TMD monolayer (e.g., MoSe2) as the input and delivers lateral heterostructures (e.g., MoSe2-MoS2) with fully engineerable morphologies. In addition, through establishing MoS2xSe2(1-x)-MoS2ySe2(1-y) lateral junctions, our synthesis protocol offers an extra degree of freedom for engineering the band gap energies up to ∼320 meV on each side of the heterostructure junction via changing x and y independently. Our electron microscopy analysis reveals that such continuous tuning stems from the random intermixing of sulfur and selenium atoms following the chalcogen swapping. We believe that, by adding an engineering flavor to the synthesis of TMD heterostructures, our study lowers the barrier for the integration of two-dimensional materials into practical optoelectronic platforms.
View details for DOI 10.1021/acsnano.0c02885
View details for Web of Science ID 000537682300114
View details for PubMedID 32364693
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Photocarrier-Induced Active Control of Second-Order Optical Nonlinearity in Monolayer MoS2
SMALL
2020; 16 (5): e1906347
Abstract
Atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) in their excited states can serve as exceptionally small building blocks for active optical platforms. In this scheme, optical excitation provides a practical approach to control light-TMD interactions via the photocarrier generation, in an ultrafast manner. Here, it is demonstrated that via a controlled generation of photocarriers the second-harmonic generation (SHG) from a monolayer MoS2 crystal can be substantially modulated up to ≈55% within a timeframe of ≈250 fs, a set of performance characteristics that showcases the promise of low-dimensional materials for all-optical nonlinear data processing. The combined experimental and theoretical study suggests that the large SHG modulation stems from the correlation between the second-order dielectric susceptibility χ(2) and the density of photoexcited carriers in MoS2 . Indeed, the depopulation of the conduction band electrons, at the vicinity of the high-symmetry K/K' points of MoS2 , suppresses the contribution of interband electronic transitions in the effective χ(2) of the monolayer crystal, enabling the all-optical modulation of the SHG signal. The strong dependence of the second-order optical response on the density of photocarriers reveals the promise of time-resolved nonlinear characterization as an alternative route to monitoring carrier dynamics in excited states of TMDs.
View details for DOI 10.1002/smll.201906347
View details for Web of Science ID 000506918800001
View details for PubMedID 31943782
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Transient Second-Order Nonlinear Media: Breaking the Spatial Symmetry in the Time Domain via Hot-Electron Transfer
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
2020; 124 (1): 013901
Abstract
Second-order optical effects are essential to the active control of light and the generation of new spectral components. The inversion symmetry, however, prevents achieving a bulk χ^{(2)} response, limiting the portfolio of the second-order nonlinear materials. Here, we demonstrate subpicosecond conversion of a statically passive dielectric to a transient second-order nonlinear medium upon the ultrafast transfer of hot electrons. Induced by an optical switching signal, the amorphous dielectric with vanishing intrinsic χ^{(2)} develops dynamically tunable second-order nonlinear responses. By taking the second-harmonic generation as an example, we show that breaking the inversion symmetry through hot-electron dynamics can be leveraged to address the critical need for all-optical control of second-order nonlinearities in nanophotonics. Our approach can be generically adopted in a variety of material and device platforms, offering a new class of complex nonlinear media with promising potentials for all-optical information processing.
View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.013901
View details for Web of Science ID 000505495300012
View details for PubMedID 31976680
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Electrically Biased Silicon Metasurfaces with Magnetic Mie Resonance for Tunable Harmonic Generation of Light
ACS PHOTONICS
2019; 6 (11): 2663–70
View details for DOI 10.1021/acsphotonics.9b01398
View details for Web of Science ID 000499742000011
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All-Optical Control of Light in Micro- and Nanophotonics
ACS PHOTONICS
2019; 6 (5): 1082–93
View details for DOI 10.1021/acsphotonics.9b00013
View details for Web of Science ID 000468367600001
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Metasurfaces for Near-Eye Augmented Reality
ACS PHOTONICS
2019; 6 (4): 864–70
View details for DOI 10.1021/acsphotonics.9b00180
View details for Web of Science ID 000465188900009
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Sharp and Tunable Crystal/Fano-Type Resonances Enabled by Out-of-Plane Dipolar Coupling in Plasmonic Nanopatch Arrays
ANNALEN DER PHYSIK
2018; 530 (10)
View details for DOI 10.1002/andp.201700395
View details for Web of Science ID 000447535700001
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Ultrafast Control of Phase and Polarization of Light Expedited by Hot-Electron Transfer
NANO LETTERS
2018; 18 (9): 5544–51
Abstract
All-optical modulation is an entangled part of ultrafast nonlinear optics with promising impacts on tunable optical devices in the future. Current advancements in all-optical control predominantly offer modulation by means of altering light intensity, while the ultrafast manipulation of other attributes of light have yet to be further explored. Here, we demonstrate the active modulation of the phase, polarization, and amplitude of light through the nonlinear modification of the optical response of a plasmonic crystal that supports subradiant, high Q, and polarization-selective resonance modes. The designed mode is exclusively accessible via TM-polarized light, which enables significant phase modulation and polarization conversion within the visible spectrum. To tailor the device performance in the time domain, we exploit the ultrafast transport dynamics of hot electrons at the interface of plasmonic metals and charge acceptor materials to facilitate an ultrafast switching speed. In addition, the operating wavelength of the proposed device can be tuned through the control of the in-plane momentum of light. Our work reveals the viability of dynamic phase and polarization control in plasmonic systems for all-optical switching and data processing.
View details for DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b01946
View details for Web of Science ID 000444793500028
View details for PubMedID 30071164
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Strain relaxation via formation of cracks in compositionally modulated two-dimensional semiconductor alloys
NPJ 2D MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS
2018; 2: 1–8
View details for DOI 10.1038/s41699-018-0056-4
View details for Web of Science ID 000441131100001
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Hot-Electron-Assisted Femtosecond All-Optical Modulation in Plasmonics
ADVANCED MATERIALS
2018; 30 (9)
Abstract
The optical Kerr nonlinearity of plasmonic metals provides enticing prospects for developing reconfigurable and ultracompact all-optical modulators. In nanostructured metals, the coherent coupling of light energy to plasmon resonances creates a nonequilibrium electron distribution at an elevated electron temperature that gives rise to significant Kerr optical nonlinearities. Although enhanced nonlinear responses of metals facilitate the realization of efficient modulation devices, the intrinsically slow relaxation dynamics of the photoexcited carriers, primarily governed by electron-phonon interactions, impedes ultrafast all-optical modulation. Here, femtosecond (≈190 fs) all-optical modulation in plasmonic systems via the activation of relaxation pathways for hot electrons at the interface of metals and electron acceptor materials, following an on-resonance excitation of subradiant lattice plasmon modes, is demonstrated. Both the relaxation kinetics and the optical nonlinearity can be actively tuned by leveraging the spectral response of the plasmonic design in the linear regime. The findings offer an opportunity to exploit hot-electron-induced nonlinearities for design of self-contained, ultrafast, and low-power all-optical modulators based on plasmonic platforms.
View details for DOI 10.1002/adma.201704915
View details for Web of Science ID 000426491600007
View details for PubMedID 29333735
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Lattice Plasmon Induced Large Enhancement of Excitonic Emission in Monolayer Metal Dichalcogenides
PLASMONICS
2017; 12 (6): 1975-1981
View details for DOI 10.1007/s11468-016-0470-4
View details for Web of Science ID 000414377400040
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Preserving Spin States upon Reflection: Linear and Nonlinear Responses of a Chiral Meta-Mirror
NANO LETTERS
2017; 17 (11): 7102–9
Abstract
Conventional metallic mirrors flip the spin of a circularly polarized wave upon normal incidence by inverting the direction of the propagation vector. Altering or maintaining the spin state of light waves carrying data is a critical need to be met at the brink of photonic information processing. In this work, we report a chiral metamaterial mirror that strongly absorbs a circularly polarized wave of one spin state and reflects that of the opposite spin in a manner conserving the circular polarization. A circular dichroic response in reflection as large as ∼0.5 is experimentally observed in a near-infrared wavelength band. By imaging a fabricated pattern composed of the enantiomeric unit cells, we directly visualize the two key features of our engineered meta-mirrors, namely the chiral-selective absorption and the polarization preservation upon reflection. Beyond the linear regime, the chiral resonances enhance light-matter interaction under circularly polarized excitation, greatly boosting the ability of the metamaterial to perform chiral-selective signal generation and optical imaging in the nonlinear regime. Chiral meta-mirrors, exhibiting giant chiroptical responses and spin-selective near-field enhancement, hold great promise for applications in polarization sensitive electro-optical information processing and biosensing.
View details for DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b03882
View details for Web of Science ID 000415029000089
View details for PubMedID 29072915
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Dark plasmonic modes in diatomic gratings for plasmoelectronics
LASER & PHOTONICS REVIEWS
2017; 11 (2)
View details for DOI 10.1002/lpor.201600312
View details for Web of Science ID 000398004000011
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Resonant Light-Induced Heating in Hybrid Cavity-Coupled 2D Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides
ACS PHOTONICS
2016; 3 (4): 700–707
View details for DOI 10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00085
View details for Web of Science ID 000374811700030
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The conformal silicon deposition on carbon nanotubes as enabled by hydrogenated carbon coatings for synthesis of carbon/silicon core/shell heterostructure photodiodes
CARBON
2015; 87: 299–308
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.carbon.2015.02.022
View details for Web of Science ID 000352332900030
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Integration of Ni2Si/Si Nanograss Heterojunction on n-MOSFET to Realize High-Sensitivity Phototransistors
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES
2014; 61 (9): 3239–44
View details for DOI 10.1109/TED.2014.2341614
View details for Web of Science ID 000342909700034
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Cell-imprinted substrates act as an artificial niche for skin regeneration.
ACS applied materials & interfaces
2014; 6 (15): 13280-13292
Abstract
Bioinspired materials can mimic the stem cell environment and modulate stem cell differentiation and proliferation. In this study, biomimetic micro/nanoenvironments were fabricated by cell-imprinted substrates based on mature human keratinocyte morphological templates. The data obtained from atomic force microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy revealed that the keratinocyte-cell-imprinted poly(dimethylsiloxane) casting procedure could imitate the surface morphology of the plasma membrane, ranging from the nanoscale to the macroscale, which may provide the required topographical cell fingerprints to induce differentiation. Gene expression levels of the genes analyzed (involucrin, collagen type I, and keratin 10) together with protein expression data showed that human adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) seeded on these cell-imprinted substrates were driven to adopt the specific shape and characteristics of keratinocytes. The observed morphology of the ADSCs grown on the keratinocyte casts was noticeably different from that of stem cells cultivated on the stem-cell-imprinted substrates. Since the shape and geometry of the nucleus could potentially alter the gene expression, we used molecular dynamics to probe the effect of the confining geometry on the chain arrangement of simulated chromatin fibers in the nuclei. The results obtained suggested that induction of mature cell shapes onto stem cells can influence nucleus deformation of the stem cells followed by regulation of target genes. This might pave the way for a reliable, efficient, and cheap approach of controlling stem cell differentiation toward skin cells for wound healing applications.
View details for DOI 10.1021/am503045b
View details for PubMedID 24967724
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Realization of highly crystallographic three-dimensional nanosheets by a stress-induced oriented-diffusion method
APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS
2014; 105 (4)
View details for DOI 10.1063/1.4892091
View details for Web of Science ID 000341152600074
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Cell membrane electrical charge investigations by silicon nanowires incorporated field effect transistor (SiNWFET) suitable in cancer research
RSC ADVANCES
2014; 4 (15): 7425-7431
View details for DOI 10.1039/c3ra46272b
View details for Web of Science ID 000330241000009
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A Nickel-Gold Bilayer Catalyst Engineering Technique for Self-Assembled Growth of Highly Ordered Silicon Nanotubes (SiNT)
NANO LETTERS
2013; 13 (3): 889–97
Abstract
We report the growth of vertically aligned high-crystallinity silicon nanotube (SiNT) arrays on silicon substrate by means of a Ni-Au bilayer catalyst engineering technique. Nanotubes were synthesized through solid-liquid-solid method as well as vapor-liquid-solid. A precise evaluation utilizing atomic force microscopy and lateral force microscopy describes that the gold profile in Ni regions leads to the construction of multiwall SiNTs. The agreement of the structural geometry and stiffness of the obtained SiNTs with previous theoretical predictions suggest sp(3) hybridization as the mechanism of tube formation. Apart from scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy techniques, photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) has been conducted to investigate the formation of nanostructures. PL spectroscopy confirms the evolution of ultrafine walls of the silicon nanotubes, responsible for the observed photoemission properties.
View details for DOI 10.1021/nl303558f
View details for Web of Science ID 000316243800006
View details for PubMedID 23394626
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Fabrication and modeling of high sensitivity humidity sensors based on doped silicon nanowires
SENSORS AND ACTUATORS B-CHEMICAL
2013; 176: 413–19
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.snb.2012.09.062
View details for Web of Science ID 000319867500058
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Evaluation of the shear force of single cancer cells by vertically aligned carbon nanotubes suitable for metastasis diagnosis
INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY
2013; 5 (3): 535-542
Abstract
Vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) arrays have been demonstrated as probes for rapid quantifying of cancer cell deformability with high resolution. Through entrapment of various cancer cells on CNT arrays, the deflections of the nanotubes during cell deformation were used to derive the lateral cell shear force using a large deflection mode method. It is observed that VACNT beams act as sensitive and flexible agents, which transfer the shear force of cells trapped on them by an observable deflection. The metastatic cancer cells have significant deformable structures leading to a further cell traction force (CTF) than primary cancerous one on CNT arrays. The elasticity of different cells could be compared by their CTF measurement on CNT arrays. This study presents a nanotube-based methodology for quantifying the single cell mechanical behavior, which could be useful for understanding the metastatic behavior of cells.
View details for DOI 10.1039/c2ib20215h
View details for Web of Science ID 000315354900008
View details for PubMedID 23340873
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Single-cell resolution diagnosis of cancer cells by carbon nanotube electrical spectroscopy
NANOSCALE
2013; 5 (8): 3421-3427
Abstract
We report the use of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) as electrical endoscopes (biosensors) for cancer metastatic diagnosis at single-cell resolution. The device is based on direct signal extraction by means of vertically aligned conductive carbon nanotubes from a live cell membrane, which has been disrupted during carcinogenesis at its primary and progressive stages. The value of this electrical disruption depends on the cancer metastatic grade. In addition, the electrical resonance behavior of the cell, halted during cancer progression, could be monitored as a new cancer diagnostic profile. By taking a second derivative of the cell impedance with respect to applied frequency, we have arrived at a new spectroscopy tool for distinguishing cancerous stages of colon and breast carcinoma cells.
View details for DOI 10.1039/c3nr33430a
View details for Web of Science ID 000316959500043
View details for PubMedID 23474499
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A vertically aligned carbon nanotube-based impedance sensing biosensor for rapid and high sensitive detection of cancer cells
LAB ON A CHIP
2012; 12 (6): 1183-1190
Abstract
A novel vertically aligned carbon nanotube based electrical cell impedance sensing biosensor (CNT-ECIS) was demonstrated for the first time as a more rapid, sensitive and specific device for the detection of cancer cells. This biosensor is based on the fast entrapment of cancer cells on vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays and leads to mechanical and electrical interactions between CNT tips and entrapped cell membranes, changing the impedance of the biosensor. CNT-ECIS was fabricated through a photolithography process on Ni/SiO(2)/Si layers. Carbon nanotube arrays have been grown on 9 nm thick patterned Ni microelectrodes by DC-PECVD. SW48 colon cancer cells were passed over the surface of CNT covered electrodes to be specifically entrapped on elastic nanotube beams. CNT arrays act as both adhesive and conductive agents and impedance changes occurred as fast as 30 s (for whole entrapment and signaling processes). CNT-ECIS detected the cancer cells with the concentration as low as 4000 cells cm(-2) on its surface and a sensitivity of 1.7 × 10(-3)Ω cm(2). Time and cell efficiency factor (TEF and CEF) parameters were defined which describe the sensor's rapidness and resolution, respectively. TEF and CEF of CNT-ECIS were much higher than other cell based electrical biosensors which are compared in this paper.
View details for DOI 10.1039/c2lc21028b
View details for Web of Science ID 000300511500023
View details for PubMedID 22294045