​Registration Link
https://kaust.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zx5sw_y7T1qtRYc6LF5FVQ


ABSTRACT: Field-effect transistors based on organic semiconductors and hybrid organic-inorganic, perovskite semiconductors provide a controlled means of studying the charge transport physics of these materials and are also of interest for a broad range of applications in electronics, optoelectronics or bioelectronics. In this talk we will provide a general overview of the current understanding of the main factors that govern and limit the charge transport properties of these materials and provide specific examples of recent approaches that aim to enhance FET performance and stability.


BIOGRAPHY: Prof. Henning Sirringhaus, FRS is the Hitachi Professor of Electron Device Physics and a Royal Society Research Professor at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He works on the charge transport, photo- and device physics of conjugated polymer and molecular semiconductors as well as hybrid organic-inorganic semiconductors. He is co-founder of the spin-off company, Plastic Logic/FlexEnable, commercializing organic transistor technology.

MORE INFORMATION

• CONTACTMazen E. Mero

Unconventional formations have become an increasingly important source of energy resources. Proper rock mechanic characterization is needed not only to identify the most promising areas for stimulation, but to increase our understanding of the sealing capabilities of cap-rock formations for carbon geological storage. However, shale assessment is challenging with current standard techniques. This research explores the index and rock mechanic properties of different shale specimens considered as source rocks for oil and gas (Eagle Ford, Wolfcamp, Jordanian, Mancos, Bakken, and Kimmeridge), and presents an in-depth analysis of tools and protocols to identify inherent biases. New test protocols proposed in this thesis provide robust and cost-effective measurement techniques to characterize unconventional formations; these include: 1) new energy methods to assess brittleness and brittle/ductile conditions in the field, 2) tensile strength analyses to determine anisotropy in unconventional formations, 3) Coda wave analysis to monitor pre-failure damage evolution during compression, and 4) a combination of index tests to anticipate complex characteristics, which include high-resolution imaging, hardness, and scratch tests. Experimental results combined with extensive databases provide unprecedented information related to the mechanical behavior of shale formations needed for the enhanced design and analysis of geo-engineering applications. Calcareous shales display strong interlayer bonding and lower compressive strength anisotropy than siliceous shales. Tensile strength anisotropy is more pronounced than in compressive strength and reflects bedding orientation and loading conditions that affect fracture propagation and ensuing failure surface topography.

MORE INFORMATION

• CONTACTEduardo D. Gramajo Silva
• EMAILeduardo.gramajosilva@kaust.edu.sa

​Registration Link
https://kaust.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OlfIfKa2SfOdNsBbsmwz5A


ABSTRACT: The rising interest in ultra-highly sensitive clinical assays, stems from the foreseen advantages that are connected with technologies capable of tracking a biomarker down to the physical limit. In fact, such technologies could virtually quantify the transition of an organism from being "healthy" to being "diseased". This can open to the possibility of achieving the earliest possible diagnosis. The integration of such bioelectronic sensors into a wearable platform would enable precision medicine to be implemented for the convenient monitoring of a person's health status. From a more fundamental point of view, the sensing of single-events faces the ultimate challenge of counting each molecule in a solution and opens to the study of rarer events that are otherwise lost in the background noise when the average most probable response of a population of countless molecules, is measured. 

Label-free single-molecule detection has been achieved so far by means of nanometric transducing devices that however, because of the small interaction cross-section, do not enable to measure a single molecule into a too large microliter volume. Several three-terminal organic bioelectronic structures have been proposed so far to address the needs for a variety of biosensing applications. The most popular ones utlized organic field-effect transistors immobilizing a layer of bio-recognition elements that are operated in an electrolyte that enables one to selectively detect both proteins and genomic analytes. These features along with the foreseen low-cost for their production, make them very appealing for point-of-care biomedical applications. 

This lecture aims at providing a systematic comparison between the potentiometric and amperometric electrochemical sensors and their organic bioelectronic transistors counterparts, showing why the latter can sense at the single-molecule level. Moreover, material-science and devices-operational aspects underpinning the sensing-principles of the assessed technologies critically prioritizing them according to scrutinized figures-of-merit such as limit-of-detection, need for a labelling-step and feasibility to assay biofluids. 

- Macchia, E. et. al. Single-molecule Transistor platform detecting genomic biomarkers at the physical limit. ACS Sensors 2020 DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.0c00694
- Macchia, E. et. al. Ultra-low HIV-1 p24 detection limits with a bioelectronic sensor. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2020, 412, 811-818 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-019-02319-7
- Macchia, E. et. al. New trends in single molecule bioanalytical detection. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2020, 412, 5005–5014.
- Sailapu, S.K. et. al. Standalone operation of an EGOFET for ultra-sensitive detection of HIV. Biosensors and Bioelectronics 2020, 156,12103 DOI:10.1016/j.bios.
- Macchia E. et. al. About the amplification factors in organic bioelectronic sensors. Materials Horizons 2020, 7, 999 – 1013.
- Picca, M.R. et. al. Ultimately sensitive organic bioelectronic transistor sensors by materials and device structures design. Advanced Functional Materials 2020 (published on line)1904513.
- Macchia, E. et. al. Ultra-low HIV-1 p24 detection limits with a bioelectronic sensor. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2020 DOI:10.1007/s00216-019-02319-7
- Macchia, E. et. al. Label-free and selective single-molecule bioelectronic sensing with a millimeter-wide self-assembled monolayer of anti-immunoglobulins. Chemistry of Materials 2019, 31, 6476-6483.
- Macchia, E. et. al. Selective Single-Molecule Analytical Detection of C-Reactive Protein in Saliva with an Organic Transistor. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2019 411, 4899-4908.
- Macchia, E. et. al. Single molecule detection with a millimetre-sized transistor. Nature Communications 2018, 9, Article Number: 3223; Highlighted in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05950-z

MORE INFORMATION

• CONTACTMazen E. Mero