A protonic transistor made of chitin

Marco Rolandi reported in Nature Communications the development a protonic field effect transistor (H+-FET) that controls the flow of protons instead of electrons, making it a good potential starting point for bio-interface devices.  In maleic chitosan nanofibers, protons hop along the hydrated nanofiber hydrogen bond network following the Grotthuss mechanism. The H+ flow is measured with PdHx proton transparent contacts, and this flow is turned on or off by an electrostatic potential applied to a gate electrode. 

Photoresponse of a strongly correlated material

Using scanning photocurrent microscopy on suspended VO2 nanobeams, David Cobden and Xiadong Xu have determined that photo-thermoelectric effects dominate photocurrent generation in this strongly correlated material known for a dramatic metal-insulator transition at 68 oC. These results, reported in  Nature Nanotechnology, bring us a step further in understanding the fundamental optoelectronic response of strongly correlated electronic systems for developing novel optoelectronic and photonic devices.

Rapid identification of pathogenic bacteria