'Peeling Atoms via Ultrasharp Nanostructures for Bio-Chemical-Environmental Sensing and Pollution Control'

Ultra-sharp nanostructures exhibit interesting functionalities in devices including gas ionization sensors, field emission devices, ionmobility spectrometry, electrostatic precipitators and biological, chemical and agricultural sensors. We will present examples of engineered 1D semiconductor nanostructures in ultra-selective sensors and discuss their importance in chemical and biological detection; diagnosing medical symptoms of certain diseases; monitoring and controlling agricultural and industrial green house gas emission, indoor air quality of homes, public places, manufacturing plants, automotive emission, waste disposal and treatment plants. We will also show how such devices can dramatically reduce the designcomplexities of pollution monitoring and controlling systems. These devices enable new capabilities and offer great potential to be rationally tailored in a myriad of useful ways for accurate fingerprinting a broad range of biological and chemical analytes and for cost-effective control of environmental pollution.

Speaker: Prof. Saif Islam, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UC Davis