This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9557, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Invited Panel Discussion, and Conference Committee listing.

Hemicyanine dyes are promising materials for solid-state tunable dye lasers because of their high activity for light amplification and superior durability under optical pumping when doped in DNA-surfactant complexes. A hemicyanine with a long alkyl chain, 4-[4-(dimethylamino)stylyl]-1-dococylpyridium bromide (DMASDPB or Hemi22) has been incorporated in the complex films prepared with various methods, demonstrating amplified spontaneous emission (ASE), laser oscillation and its wavelength tuning. While these achievements have seemed to confirm the importance of intercalation or groove-binding of the dyes to DNA strand, our recent studies for the hemicyanine and other dyes suggested that the influence from surfactant molecules was more essential than that from DNA structure. Considering that dye-DNA interaction mode may strongly depend on the size and structure of the dye molecules, another hemicyanine, 4-[4-(dimethylamino)stylyl]-1-methylpyridium iodide (DMASMPI or Hemi1) with methyl substituent instead of C22 of Hemi22, was employed as dopant in the complex for comparison. DMASMPI-doped-complex films prepared by the same method also showed ASE under optical pumping with a threshold value nearly identical to that for DMASDPB, suggesting common interaction feature. On the other hand, the dye had high solubility in water and gave fluorescence enhancement when dissolved in aqueous solution with DNA, indicating direct interaction between the dye and DNA double strand.

In this study, we demonstrated the use of DNA-CTMA (DC) in combination with PolyVinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) as a host matrix or separator for Lithium based electrolyte to form solid polymer/gel like electrolyte for potential application in Li-ion batteries. The addition of DC provided a better thermal stability of the composite electrolyte as shown by the thermos-gravimetric analysis (TGA). The AC conductivity measurements suggest that the addition of DC to the gel electrolyte had no effect on the overall ionic conductivity of the composite. The obtained films are flexible with high mechanical stretch-ability as compared to the gel type electrolytes only.

Self-assembly originated from molecules, is ubiquitous from nature to unnature systems. The formation of double-stranded structure of DNA, virus, molecular crystals, liposomes etc. are all instances of molecular self-assembly. In the biological system, for example, virus is an impressive feat of molecular engineering by assembly of hundreds of proteins through the weak hydrophobic effect. We propose a robust strategy for the size-controllable fabrication of gold nanoparticle vesicles(AuNVs) which are biomimetic nanostructures of virus consisted of gold nanoparticles instead of proteins by using carbohydrate terminated fluorinated surface ligand self-assembly with 5~40nm AuNPs, indicating that carbohydrate can act as stronger molecular glue than oligo(ethylene glycol). Carbohydrate was introduced to tune the hydrophilic effect of the ligand by varying the number of glucose (namely, glucose, maltose, and maltotriose). AuNVs size could be efficiently controlled by varying surface ligands, water content in dioxane, and AuNPs size. We find some similarities between VLPs and AuNVs composed of 30nm gold nanoparticles. Photonic properties of not only AuNVs but also other self-assemblies of nanoparticles were measured. Strong surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of molecules were detected from the AuNVs and self-assembled gold nanoparticles.

Numerous works are based on the design, the elaboration and the study of the optical properties of gold nanoprobes for potential applications in biotechnologies (bioimaging, biosensing). Among all the possible shapes, it appears that sharp gold nanostructures exhibit interesting features due to the strong filed generated at their tips ends, making them very sensitive to the surrounding medium. Here we describe a complete study of PEGylated gold nanoparticles : nanostars and bipyramids as potential agents for bioimaging. The nanoprobes are first prepared in high yield before functionalization with a biocompatible polymer. Then, the PEGylated gold nanoparticles are incubated with melanoma B16-F10 cells and observed using Dark-field microscopy. Results show that the biocompatible gold nanoparticles are easily internalized and most of them localized within the cells.

Self assembly driven by complicated but systematic hierarchical interactions offers a qualified alternative for fabricating functional micron or nanometer scale pattern structures that have been potentially useful for various organic and nanotechnological devices. Self assembled nanostructures generated from synthetic polymer systems such as controlled polymer blends, semi-crystalline polymers and block copolymers have gained a great attention not only because of the variety of nanostructures they can evolve but also because of the controllability of these structures by external stimuli. In this presentation, various novel photo-electronic materials and devices are introduced based on the solution-processed low dimensional nanomaterials such as networked carbon nanotubes (CNTs), reduced graphene oxides (rGOs) and 2 dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with self assembled polymers including field effect transistor, electroluminescent device, non-volatile memory and photodetector. For instance, a nanocomposite of networked CNTs and a fluorescent polymer turned out an efficient field induced electroluminescent layer under alternating current (AC) as a potential candidate for next generation displays and lightings. Furthermore, scalable and simple strategies employed for fabricating rGO as well as TMD nanohybrid films allowed for high performance and mechanically flexible non-volatile resistive polymer memory devices and broad band photo-detectors, respectively.

An optical, two-channel molecular sensor design using surface-plasmon polariton resonance (SPR) in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer was devised for studying the enhancement due to the presence of interferometry. The objective was to detect very small quantities of gas molecules with molecular weights in the range of 17 to 28 Daltons using either the signal from the transmitted laser beam or the interference image that can be computer analyzed. Dry air in humid air and pure ammonia gas diluted in dry air were studied. Initial studies gave detection sensitivities of better than 70 parts per 10⁸ for changes in refractive index of the gas. With interferometry, recorded signals were 40X greater than with the normal SPR technique.

One of many photonic applications of biopolymers as functional materials is random lasing resulting from an incorporation of highly luminescent dyes into biopolymeric matrix, which leads to a random but coherent light scattering in amplifying medium. In spite of numerous theoretical and experimental studies the origin of the coherence is still not clear and various scenarios are discussed. In particular, inhomogeneity of biopolymeric layers can hypothetically promote the feedback in the scattering of the emitted light resulting in coherent and incoherent random lasing. In this paper we analyze the light scattering in a model system of scattering centers of circular shapes and various dimensions using ray-tracing techniques. In the second part, which has mostly a tutorial character, we present the approach to the study of random lasing using a cellular automaton model of Wiersma et al.

The main goal of this research was to maintain the bulk charge carrier mobility of graphene, after deposition of the gate dielectric layer used for making transistor devices. The approach was introducing a thin film of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) nucleobase purine guanine, deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD), onto layers of graphene that were transferred onto various flexible substrates. Several test platforms were fabricated with guanine as a standalone gate dielectric, as the control, and guanine as a passivation layer between the graphene and PMMA. It was found that the bulk charge carrier mobility of graphene was best maintained and most stable using guanine as a passivation layer between the graphene and PMMA. Other transport properties, such as charge carrier concentration, conductivity type and electrical resistivity were investigated as well. This is an important first step to realizing high performance graphene-based transistors that have potential use in bio and environmental sensors, computer-processing and electronics.

Due to their excellent electrical, optical, and mechanical properties, nanosized single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have attracted significant attention as a transducing element in nano-bio sensor research. Controlled assembly, device fabrication, and bio-functionalization of the SWNTs are crucial in creating the sensors. In this study, working biosensor platforms were created using dielectrophoretic assembly of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as a bridge between two gold electrodes. SWNTs in a commercial SDS surfactant solution were dispensed in the gap between the two gold electrodes, followed by applying an ac voltage across the two electrodes. The dielectrophoresis aligns the CNTs and forms a bridge between the two electrodes. A copious washing and a subsequent annealing of the devices at 200 ᵒC remove the surfactants and create an excellent semiconducting (p-type) bridge between the two electrodes. A liquid gated field effect transistor (LGFET) was built using DI water as the gate dielectric and the SWNT bridge as the channel. Negative gate voltages of the FET increased the drain current and applying a positive gate voltage of +0.5V depleted the channel of charges and turned the device off. The biosensor was verified using both the two terminal and three terminal devices. Genomic salmon DNA dissolved in DI water was applied on the SWNT bridge in both type of devices. In the two terminal device, the conductance of the bridge dropped by 65x after the binding of the DNA. In the LGFET, the transconductance of the device decreased 2X after the binding of the DNA. The binding of the DNA also suppressed hysteresis in the Drain Current vs Gate Voltage characteristics of the LGFET.

Deoxyribonucleic acid lipid complex thin films are used as a host material for laser dyes. We tested PicoGreen dye, which is commonly used for the quantification of single and double stranded DNA, for its applicability as lasing medium. PicoGreen dye exhibits enhanced fluorescence on intercalation with DNA. This enormous fluorescence emission is amplified in a planar microcavity to achieve yellow lasing. Here the role of DNA is not only a host medium, but also as a fluorescence dequencher. With the obtained results we have ample reasons to propose PicoGreen dye as a lasing medium, which can lead to the development of DNA based bio-lasers.

Biopolymer light emitting diodes were fabricated by using all solution processable polymers incorporating biomaterials such as deoxyribonucleic acid lipid complex as an electron blocking layer. Light emission is from a blend of fluorene based copolymers. The devices with electron blocking layer exhibited higher brightness and luminous efficiency. The increased luminance of the multilayer polymer LED is attributed to the contribution from DNA:CTMA as electron blocking layer and PFN, a derivative of polyfluorene, as electron injection layer. Our results show four fold increase in luminance values when DNA is used as electron blocking layer.

The trans-cis-trans isomerization process for a series of azobenzene hybrid materials has been studied by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The photoisomerization process is mainly independent of the position and chemical nature of the substituents. The kinetics of the thermal back reaction for the azo-hybrids depend strongly on the chemical nature of the substituent and substitution pattern, with thermal relaxation rate constant ranging from 3.29×10^-5 to 6.49×10^-2 s^-1. The photoresponsive properties can be tune up by changing substituent nature and position on the azo-chromophore. These photoresponsive hybrid materials are optimal molecules for storage data applications and for designing fast optical switching devices.