The paper presents the design and fabrication of a low-cost and easy-to-fabricate laser-induced graphene sensor together with its implementation for multi-sensing applications. Laser-irradiation of commercial polymer film was applied for photo-thermal generation of graphene. The graphene patterned in an interdigitated shape was transferred onto Kapton sticky tape to form the electrodes of a capacitive sensor. The functionality of the sensor was validated by employing them in electrochemical and strain-sensing scenarios. Impedance spectroscopy was applied to investigate the response of the sensor. For the electrochemical sensing, different concentrations of sodium sulfate were prepared, and the fabricated sensor was used to detect the concentration differences. For the strain sensing, the sensor was deployed for monitoring of human joint movements and tactile sensing. The promising sensing results validating the applicability of the fabricated sensor for multiple sensing purposes are presented.

The interrogation of single cells has revolutionised biology and medicine by providing crucial unparalleled insights into cell-to-cell heterogeneity. Flow cytometry (including fluorescence-activated cell sorting) is one of the most versatile and high-throughput approaches for single-cell analysis by detecting multiple fluorescence parameters of individual cells in aqueous suspension as they flow past through a focus of excitation lasers. However, this approach relies on the expression of cell surface and intracellular biomarkers, which inevitably lacks spatial and temporal phenotypes and activities of cells, such as secreted proteins, extracellular metabolite production, and proliferation. Droplet microfluidics has recently emerged as a powerful tool for the encapsulation and manipulation of thousands to millions of individual cells within pico-litre microdroplets. Integrating flow cytometry with microdroplet architectures surrounded by aqueous solutions (e.g., water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) double emulsion and hydrogel droplets) opens avenues for new cellular assays linking cell phenotypes to genotypes at the single-cell level. In this review, we discuss the capabilities and applications of droplet flow cytometry (DFC). This unique technique uses standard commercially available flow cytometry instruments to characterise or select individual microdroplets containing single cells of interest. We explore current challenges associated with DFC and present our visions for future development.

We sequenced the mitochondrial (mt) genome of the grass thrips, Anaphothrips obscurus, which is highly rearranged and differs from the four thrips species reported previously in the arrangement of both tRNA genes and a protein-coding gene, nad3, and in the copy number of the control region (CR). We reconstructed the phylogeny of the thrips with mt genome sequences, and used it as a framework to gain insights into mt genome evolution in thrips. It is evident that A. obscurus is less rearranged in mt genome organization than the other four known thrips. nad3 is in its ancestral location in A. obscurus but was translocated in other four thrips. Also, A. obscurus has one CR, which is ancestral to hexapods whereas other thrips have two or three CRs. All of the five thrips whose mt genomes have been sequenced to date are from the subfamily Thripinae, which represents about a quarter of the species richness in the order Thysanoptera. The high variation in mt genome organization observed in a subfamily challenges our knowledge about animal mt genomes. It remains to be investigated why mt genomes evolved so fast in the subfamily Thripinae and how mt genomes evolved in other lineages of thrips.

A method to realize low-cost, optically transparent, flexible and unidirectional antennas is presented in this paper. The key to the method is making a flexible transparent reflector made using a new method- injection of pure water into a flexible transparent cavity that is made out of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer and integrating the flexible reflector with a flexible dipole made of transparent conducting mesh. This method is simple and inexpensive. Hence, it is useful for large scale production of transparent, flexible, robust and low-cost antennas as well as RF/microwave components for wearable body-area networks and other such systems that require flexible and transparent components. To validate the method, an antenna operating in the 2.45 GHz band was designed, fabricated and tested under various conditions. Its measured gain is 3.2 dBi and efficiency is 51%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first water-based transparent flexible antenna. Due to the shielding effect of the water-based reflector, it produces low SAR in the human body when it is worn, as expected from a unidirectional antenna. Further, it is investigated and confirmed that the use of pure water in the reflector makes the antenna significantly more efficient as opposed to salt water.

This paper presents the fabrication and implementation of novel resistive sensors that were implemented for strain-sensing applications. Some of the critical factors for the development of resistive sensors are addressed in this paper, such as the cost of fabrication, the steps of the fabrication process which make it time-consuming to complete each prototype, and the inability to achieve optimised electrical and mechanical characteristics. The sensors were fabricated via magnetron sputtering of thin-film chromium and gold layer on the thin-film substrates at defined thicknesses. Sticky copper tapes were attached on the two sides of the sensor patches to form the electrodes. The operating principle of the fabricated sensors was based on the change in their responses with respect to the corresponding changes in their relative resistance as a function of the applied strain. The strain-induced characteristics of the patches were studied with different kinds of experiments, such as consecutive bending and pressure application. The sensors with 400 nm thickness of gold layer obtained a sensitivity of 0.0086 Ω/ppm for the pressure ranging between 0 and 400 kPa. The gauge factor of these sensors was between 4.9–6.6 for temperatures ranging between 25 °C and 55 °C. They were also used for tactile sensing to determine their potential as thin-film sensors for industrial applications, like in robotic and pressure-mapping applications. The results were promising in regards to the sensors’ controllable film thickness, easy operation, purity of the films and mechanically sound nature. These sensors can provide a podium to enhance the usage of resistive sensors on a higher scale to develop thin-film sensors for industrial applications.