We introduce a new visible light communication (VLC) method in which three-level return-to-zero (RZ) modulation is used for flicker-free transmission. In the VLC transmitter, the three-level RZ modulation ensures that the average optical power is constant; thus, a flicker-free light-emitting diode (LED) light is achieved. In the VLC receiver, a resistor-capacitor high-pass filter is used for generating spike signals, which are used for data recovery while eliminating the 120 Hz optical noise from adjacent lighting lamps. In transmission experiments, we applied this method for wireless transmission of an air quality sensor message using the visible light of an LED array. This configuration is useful for the construction of indoor wireless sensor networks for air pollution monitoring using LED lights.

In this paper, we propose a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) binary image sensor with a gate/body-tied (GBT) p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (PMOSFET)-type photodetector using a double-tail comparator for highspeed and low-power operations. The GBT photodetector is based on a PMOSFET tied with a floating gate (n+ polysilicon) and a body that amplifies the photocurrent generated by incident light. A double-tail comparator compares an input signal with a reference voltage and returns the output signal as either 0 or 1. The signal processing speed and power consumption of a double-tail comparator are superior over those of conventional comparator. Further, the use of a double-sampling circuit reduces the standard deviation of the output voltages. Therefore, the proposed CMOS binary image sensor using a double-tail comparator might have advantages, such as low power consumption and high signal processing speed. The proposed CMOS binary image sensor is designed and simulated using the standard 0.18 μm CMOS process.

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) fibers are widely used in the textile industry, filter media, membrane distillation, electronic appliances, and construction. In this study, PTFE-polyethylene oxide (PEO) fibrous membranes were fabricated by emulsion electrospinning; subsequently, pure PTFE nanofibers were obtained via sintering. PTFE-PEO electrospinning solutions were prepared using different weight ratios to determine the optimized condition. As the ratio of the PEO increased, the fiber structure improved. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy observations indicate that PEO is removed and PTFE fused gradually to form bonds among them during sintering. The obtained pristine PTFE membrane demonstrated hydrophobicity at 143.6° water contact angle and oleophilicity at 0° oil contact angle, which is known to be utilized for oil/water separation. A simple separation experiment was performed to remove oil droplets from water. The PTFE membrane exhibited good chemical stability and a high surface-area-to-volume nanofiber ratio. These excellent properties suggest that it is applicable to oil/water separation in harsh chemical environments.

A colorimetric paper sensor was used to detect volatile nitrogen-containing compounds emitted from spoiled salmon filets to determine their freshness. The sensing mechanism was based on acid-base reactions between acidic pH-indicating dyes and basic volatile ammonia and amines. A sensing layer was simply fabricated by drop-casting a dye solution of bromocresol green (BCG) on a polyvinylidene fluoride substrate, and its color-change response was enhanced by optimizing the amounts of additive chemicals, such as polyethylene glycol, p-toluene sulfonic acid, and graphene oxide in the dye solution. To avoid the adverse effects of water vapor, both faces of the sensing layer were enclosed by using a polyethylene terephthalate film and a gas-permeable microporous polytetrafluoroethylene sheet, respectively. When exposed to basic gas analytes, the paper-like sensor distinctly exhibited a color change from initially yellow, then to green, and finally to blue due to the deprotonation of BCG via the Brønsted acid-base reaction. The use of ammonia analyte as a test gas confirmed that the sensing performance of the optimized sensor was reversible and excellent (detection time of < 15 min, sensitive naked-eye detection at 0.25 ppm, good selectivity to common volatile organic gases, and good stability against thermal stress). Finally, the coloration intensity of the sensor was quantified as a function of the storage time of the salmon filet at 28°C to evaluate its usefulness in monitoring of the food freshness with the measurement of the total viable count (TVC) of microorganisms in the food. The TVC value increased from 3.2 × 105 to 3.1 × 109 cfu/g in 28 h and then became stable, whereas the sensor response abruptly changed in the first 8 h and slightly increased thereafter. This result suggests that the colorimetric response could be used as an indicator for evaluating the degree of decay of salmon induced by microorganisms.

Thus far, several in vivo biosensing platforms have been proposed to measure the mechanical contractility of cultured cardiomyocytes. However, the low sensitivity and screening rate of the developed sensors severely limit their practical applications. In addition, intensive research and development in cardiovascular disease demand a high-throughput drug-screening platform based on biomimetic engineering. To overcome the drawbacks of the current state-of-the-art methods, we propose a high-throughput drug-screening platform based on 16 functional high-sensitivity well plates. The proposed system simulates the physiological accuracy of the heart function in an in vitro environment. We fabricated 64 cantilevers using highly flexible and optically transparent silicone rubber and placed in 16 independent wells. Nanogrooves were imprinted on the surface of the cantilever to promote cell alignment and maturation. The adverse effects of the cardiovascular drugs on the cultured cardiomyocytes were systematically investigated. The 64 cantilevers demonstrated a highly reliable and reproducible mechanical contractility of the drug-treated cardiomyocytes. Real-time high-throughput screening and simultaneous evaluation of the cardiomyocyte mechanical contractility under multiple drugs verified that the proposed system could be used as an efficient drug-toxicity test platform.

Interest and demand for hydrogen sensors are increasing in the field of H2 leakage detection during storage/transport/use and detection of H2 dissolved in transformer oil for safety issues as well as in the field of breath analysis for non-invasively diagnosing a number of disease states for a healthy life. In this study, various ZnO-based sensors were synthesized by controlling the reduction in crystallite size, decoration of Pt nanoparticles, doping of electron donating atoms, and doping of various atoms with different ionic radii. The sensing response of the various prepared ZnO-based nanoparticles and quantum dots (QDs) for 10 ppm H2 was investigated. Among the samples, the smallest-sized (3.5 nm) In3+-doped ZnO QDs showed the best sensing response, which is superior to those in previously reported hydrogen sensors based on semiconducting metal oxides. The higher sensing response of In-doped ZnO QDs is attributed to the synergic effects of the increased number of oxygen vacancies, higher optical band gap, and larger specific surface area.

Xylene is a hazardous volatile organic compound that should be precisely measured to monitor indoor air quality. However, the selective and sensitive detection of ppm-level xylene using oxide-semiconductor gas sensors remains a challenge. In this study, pure and Crdoped Co3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared using flame spray pyrolysis, and their gas-sensing characteristics to 5-ppm xylene at 250 °C were investigated. The 4 at% Cr-doped Co3O4 NPs exhibited a high gas response to 5-ppm xylene (resistance ratio to gas and air = 39.1) and negligible cross-responses to other representative and ubiquitous indoor pollutants such as ethanol, benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and ammonia. In this paper, the enhancement of the gas response and selectivity of Co3O4 NPs to xylene by Cr doping was discussed in relation to the catalytic promotion of the gas-sensing reaction. This sensor can be used to monitor indoor xylene.

This paper proposes a specific sensor-design strategy and the possibility of improving the sensing performance, which can be obtained by replacing part of the existing plasmonic sensor based on the Kretschmann configuration method with an effective refractive-index layer. By replacing the metal layer with an effective refractive-index layer composed of gold and the material to be sensed, an improvement in the detection performance, accompanied by an increase in the sensed incident angle, is observed, and the gold-composition ratio that demonstrates the best result is presented. Subsequently, an increase in the sensed incident angle generated in the previous step can be suppressed by randomly etching a portion of the prism adjacent to the metal layer in a sub-wavelength scale. Finally, this study analyzes the optimization of the metal-layer thickness in a given sensor structure. An effective refractive thin-film surface plasmon resonance sensor design that can achieve optimal sensing performance is then proposed.

In this paper, the estimation of the disparity for depth extraction in monochrome complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors with offset pixel apertures is presented. To obtain the depth information, the disparity information between two different channel data of the offset pixel apertures is required. The disparity is caused by the difference in the response angle between the left- and right-offset pixel aperture images. A depth map is implemented by the generated disparity. Therefore, the disparity is the most important factor for realizing 3D images from the designed CMOS image sensor with offset pixel apertures. The disparity is influenced by the pixel height and offset value of the offset pixel aperture. To confirm this correlation, the offset value is set to maximum within the pixel area, and the disparity values corresponding to the difference in the heights are calculated and compared. The disparity is derived using the camera-lens formula. Two monochrome CMOS image sensors with offset pixel apertures are used in the disparity estimation.

Total organic carbon (TOC) analysis equipment, which was previously used to prevent eutrophication in advance, is heavy, bulky, and expensive; therefore, so it is difficult to be carried and has been used as an experimental unit. In this study, a through-carbon analysis chip that integrates pretreatment through photocatalytic oxidation and carbon dioxide measurement using a pH indicator was investigated. Both the total carbon - inorganic carbon method and the nonpurgeable organic carbon (NPOC) measurement method require an acidification part for injecting an acid solution for inorganic carbon measurement and removal, an oxidation part for total carbon or NPOC oxidation and a measurement part for Carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement. Among them, the measurement of oxidation and CO2 requires physical technology. The proposed TOC analysis chip decomposed into CO2 as a result of the oxidizing of organic carbon using a photocatalyst, and the pH indicator that was changed by the generated CO2 was optically measured. Although the area of the sample of the oxidation part and the pH indicator of the measurement part were distinguished in an enclosed space, CO2 was quantified by producing an oxidation part and a measurement part that shared the same air in one chip. The proposed TOC analysis chip is less expensive and smaller, cost and size are disadvantages of existing organic carbon analysis equipment, because it does not require a separate carrier gas to transport the CO2 gas in the oxidation part to the measurement part.