Author Correction: Sensitivity enhancement of flexible gas sensors via conversion of inkjet-printed silver electrodes into porous gold counterparts.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Effect of temperature variation on remote pressure readout in wirelessly powered intracranial pressure monitoring system.

An implantable pressure monitoring system is a compelling approach to home monitoring of intracranial pressure in the long term. In our approach, an on-body unit powers a cranially concealed system where a piezoresistive element senses the pressure. A data transmission unit built in the same platform emits a signal at a pressure dependent frequency through a miniature far field antenna. In this work, we focus on assessing the impact of variable temperature on the pressure readout at an off-body unit through in-vitro experiments.

Sensitivity enhancement of flexible gas sensors via conversion of inkjet-printed silver electrodes into porous gold counterparts.

This work describes a facile, mild and general wet chemical method to change the material and the geometry of inkjet-printed interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) thus drastically enhancing the sensitivity of chemiresistive sensors. A novel layer-by-layer chemical method was developed and used to uniformly deposit semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT)-based sensing elements on a Kapton® substrate. Flexible chemiresistive sensors were then fabricated by inkjet-printing fine-featured silver IDEs on top of the sensing elements. A mild and facile two-step process was employed to convert the inkjet-printed dense silver IDEs into their highly porous gold counterparts under ambient conditions without losing the IDE-substrate adhesion. A proof-of-concept gas sensor equipped with the resulting porous gold IDEs featured a sensitivity to diethyl ethylphosphonate (DEEP, a simulant of the nerve agent sarin) of at least 5 times higher than a similar sensor equipped with the original dense silver IDEs, which suggested that the electrode material and/or the Schottky contacts between the electrodes and the SWCNTs might have played an important role in the gas sensing process.

Inductive passive sensor for intraparenchymal and intraventricular monitoring of intracranial pressure.

Accurate measurement of intracranial hypertension is crucial for the management of elevated intracranial pressure (ICP). Catheter-based intraventricular ICP measurement is regarded as the gold standard for accurate ICP monitoring. However, this method is invasive, time-limited, and associated with complications. In this paper, we propose an implantable passive sensor that could be used for continuous intraparenchymal and intraventricular ICP monitoring. Moreover, the sensor can be placed simultaneously along with a cerebrospinal fluid shunt system in order to monitor its function. The sensor consists of a flexible coil which is connected to a miniature pressure sensor via an 8-cm long, ultra-thin coaxial cable. An external orthogonal-coil RF probe communicates with the sensor to detect pressure variation. The performance of the sensor was evaluated in an in vitro model for intraparenchymal and intraventricular ICP monitoring. The findings from this study demonstrate proof-of-concept of intraparenchymal and intraventricular ICP measurement using inductive passive pressure sensors.

Wireless channel characterization for mm-size neural implants.

This paper discusses an approach to modeling and characterizing wireless channel properties for mm-size neural implants. Full-wave electromagnetic simulation was employed to model signal propagation characteristics in biological materials. Animal tests were carried out, proving the validity of the simulation model over a wide range of frequency from 100MHz to 6GHz. Finally, effects of variability and uncertainty in human anatomy and dielectric properties of tissues on these radio links are explored.