Recently, microcantilever-based technology has emerged as a viable sensing platform due to its many advantages such as small size, high sensitivity, and low cost. However, microcantilevers lack the inherent ability to selectively identify hazardous chemicals (e.g., explosives, chemical warfare agents). The key to overcoming this challenge is to functionalize the top surface of the microcantilev...

Chemical warfare agents (CWAs) are highly toxic and fast-acting easy to cause large-scale poisoning humans livestock after being released. The activated carbon used for CWAs adsorption has disadvantages of limited capacity, aging deactivation. Metal oxides have environmental stability, they characterized by long lasting broad spectrum when thermal catalytic decomposition. Therefore, in this stu...

We present a novel NMR-based study of the molecular aspects of the "attack" on human red blood cells (RBCs) by growing bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus expresses virulence factors, including alpha-hemolysin, which contribute to the clinical condition known as septic shock. alpha-Hemolysin is a pore-forming toxin and its secretion increases the permeability of a range of mammalian cell types infe...

Limits of detection (LODs) in ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) strictly depend on ionization of the analyte. Especially challenging is ionization of compounds with relatively low proton affinity (PA) such as aromatic compounds. To change the course of ion-molecule reactions and enhance the performance of the IMS spectrometer, substances called dopants are introduced into the carrier gas. In this...

Active capillary dielectric barrier discharge ionization (DBDI) is emerging as a compact, low-cost, and robust method to form intact ions of small molecules for detection in near real time by portable mass spectrometers. Here, we demonstrate that by using a 10 kHz, ~2.5 kVp-p high-voltage square-wave alternating current plasma, active capillary DBDI can consume less than 1 μW of power. In contr...

The nerve agent VX (O-ethyl S-[2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl]methylphosphonothiolate) has been shown to decompose in contact with concrete surfaces. We have previously shown that 31P NMR can be employed to study 1) the adsorption of VX into concrete; 2) the decomposition kinetics; and 3) detect decomposition products. Recently reported results show a dramatic effect of the VX decomposition kinetics...

The electrical properties of 50 nm thick metallophthalocyanine films, prepared by organic molecular beam epitaxy (OMBE) on interdigitated electrodes, were studied with DC current-voltage measurements and impedance spectroscopy. The transition from Ohmic behavior at low voltages to space-charge-limited conductivity (SCLC) at higher voltages depends on the metal electrode (Pt, Pd, and Au), but do...

To achieve both high speed and separation efficiency in the separation of a mixture of nerve and blister agent simulants, a high-aspect-ratio micro-fabricated multi-capillary column (MCC, a 50-cm-long, 450-μm-deep, and 60-μm-wide four-capillary column) was fabricated by the application of the microelectromechanical system (MEMS) techniques. Mixtures of chemical warfare agent (CWA) simulants - d...

in this work, the practicality of catalytic surfaces of nano-structured co3o4 and mnco2o4 for the adsorption and neutralization reactions of dimethyl methyl phosphonate (dmmp) as an toxic agricultural organo-phosphorous pesticide has been investigated. the co3o4 and mnco2o4 nps have been successfully prepared by precipitation method using cobalt nitrate and manganese nitrate as the precursors a...