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L. Rassaei

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10 records found

Journal article (2018) - Hamid Reza Zafarani, Liza Rassaei, Ernst J.R. Sudhölter, Barak D.B. Aaronson, Frank Marken
We report a novel, simple and cheap generator-collector electrode system, employing platinum leaves, with micron-sized pores and typically 100-300. nm thickness, sandwiched with a porous track etch membrane spacer with typically 30. nm diameter pores. The electrode assembly is sealed into a polymer lamination pouch with one side 2. mm diameter exposed to electrolyte solution. The generator electrode with sweeping potential (top or bottom electrode) shows transient current with high capacitive current component. The collector electrode with fixed potential shows well-defined steady state current response at low potential sweep rates. The fabricated device shows good performance in monitoring both 1,1'-ferrocenedimethanol oxidation and proton reduction redox processes. Oxygen sensor signals are assigned to a lowering of the steady state proton reduction current. ...
Journal article (2018) - Hanan Al-Kutubi, Silvia Voci, Liza Rassaei, Neso Sojic, Klaus Mathwig
Microfabricated nanofluidic electrochemical devices offer a highly controlled nanochannel geometry; they confine the volume of chemical reactions to the nanoscale and enable greatly amplified electrochemical detection. Here, the generation of stable light emission by electrochemiluminescence (ECL) in transparent nanofluidic devices is demonstrated for the first time by exploiting nanogap amplification. Through continuous oxidation and reduction of [Ru(bpy)3]2+ luminophores at electrodes positioned at opposite walls of a 100 nm nanochannel, we compare classic redox cycling and ECL annihilation. Enhanced ECL light emission of attomole luminophore quantities is evidenced under ambient conditions due to the spatial confinement in a 10 femtoliter volume, resulting in a short diffusion timescale and highly efficient ECL reaction pathways at the nanoscale. ...

Fundamentals to Applications

Journal article (2017) - Liza Rassaei, Guobao Xu, Zhifeng Ding, Klaus Mathwig
Journal article (2017) - Hamid Reza Zafarani, Klaus Mathwig, Ernst J.R. Sudhölter, Liza Rassaei
We report a strategy for the fabrication of a new type of electrochemical nanogap transducer. These nanogap devices are based on signal amplification by redox cycling. Using two steps of electron-beam lithography, vertical gold electrodes are fabricated side by side at a 70 nm distance encompassing a 20 attoliter open nanogap volume. We demonstrate a current amplification factor of 2.5 as well as the possibility to detect the signal of only 60 analyte molecules occupying the detection volume. Experimental voltammetry results are compared to calculations from finite element analysis. ...

Molecules and materials exhibiting redox-switchable fluorescence

Review (2016) - Hanan Al-Kutubi, Hamid Reza Zafarani, Liza Rassaei, Klaus Mathwig
Electrofluorochromic molecules share the unique property that their fluorescence changes as a function of their oxidation state. This makes them interesting from a fundamental perspective as molecular dyads are designed and synthesized to tune the interplay of electrochemical and luminescent properties of molecules. Electrofluorochromic systems also find applications in sensing because a fluorescent signal can be detected with high sensitivity. Moreover, in the recent years the interest in redox-switchable fluorescent polymers has strongly increased due to their applicability in display devices. Here, we review electrofluorochromic molecules and polymers; we emphasize their structures and functional principles and point to specific applications. ...
Journal article (2016) - J Dolinska, K. Chidambaram, Liza Rassaei, W Adamkiewicz, M. Estili, W Lisowski, M. Iwan, B Palys, Ernst Sudholter, F Marken, M. Opallo
Porous carbon nanohybrids are promising materials as high-performance electrodes for both sensing and energy conversion applications. This is mainly due to their high specific surface area and specific physicochemical properties. Here, new porous nanohybrid materials are developed based on exfoliated MoS2 nanopetals and either negatively charged phenylsulfonated carbon nanoparticles or positively charged sulfonamide functionalized carbon nanoparticles. MoS2 nanopetals not only act as a scaffold for carbon nanoparticles to form 3D porous hierarchical architectures but also result in well-separated electrochemical signals for different compounds. The characteristics of the new carbon nanohybrid materials are studied by dynamic light scattering, zeta potential analysis, high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy and electrochemistry. The new hybrid materials show superior charge transport capability and electrocatalytic activity toward selected biologically relevant compounds compared to earlier reports on porous carbon electrodes. ...
The post-synthetic modification (PSM) of two amino-MOFs with glucose oxidase is reported in this study. The multi-step approach preserved the MOFs' structure and allowed the production of enzyme-functionalized MOFs (MOFs@GOx), which retained the enzymatic activity and showed selective properties for glucose. ...
Journal article (2016) - Hamid Zafarani, K Mathwig, SG Lemay, Ernst Sudholter, Liza Rassaei
Interference or crosstalk of coexisting redox species results in overlapping of electrochemical signals, and it is a major hurdle in sensor development. In nanogap sensors, redox cycling between two independently biased working electrodes results in an amplified electrochemical signal and an enhanced sensitivity. Here, we report new strategies for selective sensing of three different redox species in a nanogap sensor of a 2 fL volume. Our approach relies on modulating the electrode potentials to define specific potential windows between the two working electrodes; consequently, specific detection of each redox species is achieved. Finite element modeling is employed to simulate the electrochemical processes in the nanogap sensor, and the results are in good agreement with those of experiments. ...

From Fluorescence Detection towards Nanoscale Electrical Measurements

Journal article (2016) - Klaus Mathwig, Qijin Chi, Serge G. Lemay, Liza Rassaei
Classical methods to study single enzyme molecules have provided valuable information about the distribution of conformational heterogeneities, reaction mechanisms, and transients in enzymatic reactions when individual molecules instead of an averaging ensemble are studied. Here, we highlight major advances in all-electrical single enzyme studies with a focus on recent micro- and nanofluidic tools, which offer new ways of handling and studying small numbers of molecules or even single enzyme molecules. We particularly emphasize nanofluidic devices, which enable the integration of electrochemical transduction and detection. ...
Journal article (2016) - Klaus Mathwig, Hamid R. Zafarani, J. Matthäus Speck, Sahana Sarkar, Heinrich Lang, Serge G. Lemay, Liza Rassaei, Oliver G. Schmidt
In nanofluidic electrochemical sensors based on redox cycling, zeptomole quantities of analyte molecules can be detected as redox-active molecules travel diffusively between two electrodes separated by a nanoscale gap. These sensors are employed to study the properties of multiferrocenylic compounds in nonpolar media, 2,3,4-triferrocenylthiophene and 2,5-diferrocenylthiophene, which display well-resolved electrochemically reversible one-electron transfer processes. Using stochastic analysis, we are able to determine, as a function of the oxidation states of a specific redox couple, the effective diffusion coefficient as well as the faradaic current generated per molecule, all in a straightforward experiment requiring only a mesoscopic amount of molecules in a femtoliter compartment. It was found that diffusive transport is reduced for higher oxidation states and that analytes yield very high currents per molecule of 15 fA. ...