Zinc oxide Archives – Institute of Nano Electronic Engineering

Comparative Analysis on Aluminium Interdigitated Electrode Surface: Influence of Ionic Strength and Electrolytes Changes

December 5, 2024 By Editor

Abstract – The field of generating surface thin films in sensing applications is emerging, and the incorporation of thin film technology into sensor development for enhanced sensing is becoming increasingly significant in various industries such as healthcare, environmental monitoring, and food safety. However, in order to achieve higher specificity in biosensing, advances in nanomaterial biofunctionalization are crucial. This research focuses on the fabrication and characterization of nanobiosensors with surface modification using two different sensing materials: zinc oxide and gold nanorod nanocomposites. The aim of this study was to enhance the sensing capabilities of nanobiosensors by incorporating surface modification with different sensing materials. The fabrication of nanobiosensors involved using silicon as the base material and conventional photolithography to fabricate aluminium interdigitated electrodes with three different structures and gap sizes. AutoCAD software was utilized to create three different photo masks with varying gap sizes. Physical characterization of the fabricated ALIDEs was conducted using atomic force microscope, high power microscope, scanning electron microscope, and 3D-profilormeter. The electrical characterization of the ALIDEs was performed using a Keithley 6487 picoammeter. I-V measurements were conducted on bare ALIDEs as well as surface modified ALIDEs with zinc oxide and gold nanorod. I-V measurements were also performed for pH scouting. The I-V measurements on bare ALIDEs revealed that ALIDEs modified with gold nanorod conducted the least current compared to ALIDEs modified with zinc oxide. Furthermore, the ALIDEs modified with gold nanorod were found to be stable under various electrolytes environments after undergoing pH scouting.

Corresponding Author: Prof. Dr. Subash C B Gopinath
Corresponding Author’s Email: subash@unimap.edu.my

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Link to Publication: https://doi.org/10.58915/ijneam.v17iJune.8 30

Fabrication and characterizations of Al nanoparticles doped ZnO nanostructures-based integrated electrochemical biosensor

June 15, 2020 By Editor

Abstract – The benefits of the electrical-based biosensor include cheap production and fast response time of detecting diseases. An interdigitated electrode (IDE) is fabricated using silver (Ag) as a metal contact that is deposited on aliminium (Al) nanoparticles doped with both zinc oxide (ZnO) and Silicon (Si) forming AZO/Si nanostructures by vacuum coater in a thermal evaporator. The electrical properties are studied as a function of frequency and voltage using I–V characteristics. Sol–gel method under annealing temperature, 500 °C is utilized to generate Al nanoparticles doped ZnO nanostructures. UV–vis spectrophotometer, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) are used for analyzing optical, topographical, morphological and structural studies of AZO nanostructure, respectively. Specific empirical models of optical dielectric constant, bulk modulus and refractive index are also verified.

Corresponding Author: Prof. Dr. Uda Hashim
Corresponding Author’s Email: uda@unimap.edu.my

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Link to Publication: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2019.11.025

The ZnO-FET Biosensor for Cardiac Troponin I

July 23, 2018 By Editor

Abstract – This paper investigates the influence of substrate-gate coupling on the ZnO-FET biosensor’s sensitivity for detection of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), a ‘gold standard’ biomarker for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The FET-based device with introduction of substrate-gate coupling on p-type silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate is fabricated using conventional lithography processes. An n-type zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film deposited via electron-beam evaporator is used as transducer for bridging the source and drain regions. Surface modifications via functionalization with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and glutaraldehyde (GA) as chemical linkers, followed by immobilization of cTnI monoclonal antibody (MAb-cTnI) as bio-receptor on the ZnO thin film allow different concentration of cTnI detection with high selectivity. The device’s sensitivity increases up to 9 %•(g/ml)-1 with the increase of the substrate-gate voltage (VSG) up to -10 V at very low limit of detection (LOD) down to 1.6 fg/ml.

Corresponding Author: Mohamad Faris Mohamad Fathil
Corresponding Author’s Email: mohamadfaris@unimap.edu.my

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A new nano-worm structure from gold-nanoparticle mediated random curving of zinc oxide nanorods

December 17, 2015 By Editor

Abstract – Creating novel nanostructures is a primary step for high-performance analytical sensing. Herein, a new worm like nanostructure with Zinc Oxide-gold (ZnO/Au) hybrid was fabricated through an aqueous hydrothermal method, by doping Au-nanoparticle (AuNP) on the growing ZnO lattice. During ZnO growth, fine tuning the solution temperature expedites random curving of ZnO nanorods and forms nano-worms. The nano-worms which were evidenced by morphological, physical and structural analyses, revealed elongated structures protruding from the surface (length: 1. μm; diameter: ~100. nm). The appropriate peaks for the face centred cubic gold were (111) and (200), as seen from X-ray diffractogram. The strong interrelation between Au and ZnO was manifested by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The combined surface area increment from the nanoparticle radii and ZnO nanorod random curving gives raise an enhancement in detection sensitivity by increasing bio-loading. ‘Au-decorated hybrid nano-worm’ was immobilized with a probe DNA from Vibrio Cholera and duplexed with a target which was revealed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Our novel Au-decorated hybrid nano-worm is suitable for high-performance bio-sensing, as evidenced by impedance spectroscopy, having higher-specificity and attained femtomolar (10. fM) sensitivity. Further, higher stability, reproducibility and regeneration on this sensing surface were demonstrated.

Keywords – Cholera, DNA, Gold nanoparticle, Nano-worm, Nanorod, Zinc Oxide

Corresponding Author: Uda Hashim
Corresponding Author’s Email: uda@unimap.edu.my

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‘Spotted Nanoflowers’: Gold-seeded Zinc Oxide Nanohybrid for Selective Bio-capture

September 8, 2015 By Editor

Abstract – Hybrid gold nanostructures seeded into nanotextured zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoflowers (NFs) were created for novel biosensing applications. The selected ‘spotted NFs’ had a 30-nm-thick gold nanoparticle (AuNP) layer, chosen from a range of AuNP thicknesses, sputtered onto the surface. The generated nanohybrids, characterized by morphological, physical and structural analyses, were uniformly AuNP-seeded onto the ZnO NFs with an average length of 2–3 μm. Selective capture of molecular probes onto the seeded AuNPs was evidence for the specific interaction with DNA from pathogenic Leptospirosis-causing strains via hybridization and mis-match analyses. The attained detection limit was 100 fM as determined via impedance spectroscopy. High levels of stability, reproducibility and regeneration of the sensor were obtained. Selective DNA immobilization and hybridization were confirmed by nitrogen and phosphorus peaks in an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. The created nanostructure hybrids illuminate the mechanism of generating multiple-target, high-performance detection on a single NF platform, which opens a new avenue for array-based medical diagnostics.

Corresponding Author: Uda Hashim
Corresponding Author’s Email: uda@unimap.edu.my

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