Chemical Nanosensors Australia (CNA) Summit 2022

Session 1 - Chair: Ylias Sabri

9:00 AM

Tutorial - Sensing and Measurement Fundamentals

Online

Getting started in gas sensor evaluation is fraught with challenges. Aside from the esoteric venacular, many hidden traps can lead waste time and resources for novices in the field. This presentation will cover the core concepts and potential issues surrounding the design and implementation of gas sensing experiments. Topics include definition of terms (sensitivity, selectivity, LOD, etc), electrical measurement techniques, and essential consierations for design of gas sensing systems.

10:00 AM

Dr. Ahmad Kandjani

Tutorial - Graphical Design for Scientists and Engineering

Online

Graphical representation of your research is the front shop for attracting attention to your work; let’s make them professional! This short workshop presents the central concept of developing astonishing and meaningful graphics and data representation. The factors and detailed roadmap creating a uniform graphical output for your research will be explained in detail. In addition, the powerful aspects of schematic designing processes from the idea to the final art will be described in this class. We will do some hands-on exercises to make the schematics and graphical representations for sensing results in the workshop. Finally, we will cover the importance and horizons of the collaboration between the designing and science for the academic publication and personal growth aspects. You need your computer, Excell, Powerpoint, and a cup of coffee! Waiting forward to seeing you all in the workshop.

11:00 AM

Intermission

Session 2 - Chair: Chris Harrion

11:15 AM

Dr. Jason Zheng

Seminar - Hydrogen Readiness for Chemical Sensing Research, Development and Demonstrations (RD&D)

Online

After the release of Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and the adoption of Paris Agreement in 2015, the search for solutions to climate change has accelerated. With the development of key enabling technologies such as solar, green Hydrogen has been identified for the 1st time as a promising enabler (amongst others). With 2020/21 the official starting point for Hydrogen economy in Australia, the whole nation is now talking about Hydrogen. However, what is Green Hydrogen (though Hydrogen is a colourless gas), how it is produced, stored & transported, what are/will be its applications in our industry, and, more importantly, how to participate in the Hydrogen economy remain unclear to most of us.
This presentation will, through the lens of Victorian Hydrogen Hub (VH2), walk you through the whole value chain of Hydrogen Economy and brainstorming with you for your potential involvement in the R&DD part of Hydrogen (and beyond). In addition, the presenter will also share his experience in research commercialisation and in navigating overcoming challenges along the journey, especially as Early Career Researchers (ERCs) and RHD Candidates.
After this session, you are expected to have a better understanding of the whole Hydrogen value chain, aspiration for your potential RD&D involvements in it, and how to successfully translate your research into practice.

12:00 PM

A/Prof. Genki Yoshikawa

Seminar - Olfactory Sensors Based on Nanomechanical Sensors (MSS), Functional Materials and Machine Learning

Streamed from Japan

The presentation will start by reviewing the history of research and development of various olfactory sensors. Then, a nanomechanical Membrane-type Surface stress Sensor (MSS) that covers most of the elements required for olfactory sensors will be introduced. The MSS fulfills the practical requirements, such as portability, mechanical/electrical stability, low cost, low power consumption, and room temperature operation, in addition to the advanced basic specifications, e.g. high sensitivity and selectivity, especially for olfactory sensors. We will present our comprehensive research and development that integrates state-of-the-art hardware (sensor elements, receptor layers, etc.) and software (machine learning, etc.), including the world-largest industry-academia-government collaboration.

12:45 PM

Closing

8:30 AM

Venue Open + Registration

AGSE102

Tea/coffee provided

9:00 AM

Prof. Sally McArthur

Summit Opening + Welcome

AGSE202

Prof. Sally McArthur, Director of the Manufacturing Futures Research Institute at Swinburne and CSIRO Research+ Science Leader in Biomedical Manufacturing, will welcome attendees to the summit and commence proceedings.

Session 1 - Chair: Mahnaz Shafiei

9:15 AM

Prof. Saulius Juodkazis

Keynote - Optical Hydrogen Sensing

AGSE202

Tailoring of spectral response of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) metamaterial was made to control light-field and absorption enhancements. Perfect absorbers can be designed and used as narrow-band emitters at the required near-IR band for gas absorption spectroscopy. Optical hydrogen sensors based on optical transmission changes by hydrogen uptake/release in Pd-Au nano-alloy at telecom wavelengths were designed, fabricated and tested. Hydrogen interaction with Pd, Pt water splitting electrodes is discussed.

10:00 AM

Prof. Massood Atashbar

Flexible Hybrid Electronics - A Rapidly Evolving Technology for Sensor Development

Streamed from USA

Sensors are widely employed to monitor and provide real-time information in numerous applications in our day-to-day lives. Sensors play a crucial role in advancing the electronic industry by simplifying modern technical systems and making the applications more reliable and safer. The need for novel and cost-effective sensing technologies has resulted in a dramatic increase in sensor research, development, and applications over the past 25 years. This talk will introduce Flexible hybrid electronics (FHE), a rapidly evolving technology with significant potential to develop various sensors and actuators in novel ways to meet continuously emerging needs and address real-world challenges. I will provide insights on FHE, its different applications, and how this technology can be used to develop smart wearable sensors, including physical and chemical sensors.

10:30 AM

Morning Tea

AGSE102

Catering provided.

Session 2 - Chair: Mahnaz Shafiei

11:00 AM

Prof. Antonio Tricoli

Engineering of Multi-Scale Materials for Miniaturized Chemical Sensing

AGSE202

Detection and sensing of gas molecules is important for a broad range of applications ranging from non-invasive, continuous and self-medical diagnostics to explosive detection, chemical processing and environmental monitoring. The development of miniaturized gas sensors that can be integrated in portable, wearable and distributed devices is essential for many applications. Despite progress, achieving sufficient selectivity and sensitivity with miniaturized gas sensors is an ongoing challenge. In this talk, I will present the engineering of multi-scale materials for miniaturized chemical sensors, demonstrating some emerging strategies to control the selectivity and sensitivity of the nanoscale detectors. I will discuss the integration of multiple functional materials, such as metal-oxides, 2D-carbon and metal-organic frameworks, in well-defined three-dimensional architectures providing novel opportunities to tune the sensor performance to specific analytes.

11:30 AM

Prof. Paul Burn

Detection of Chemical Warfare Agent Vapours – is Acid a Double Agent?

Streamed from UQ

Fluorescent sensing materials for detecting chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and simulants often have nitrogen-based groups designed to nucleophilically displace a phosphorus atom substituent. The aim of the reaction is to cause a measurable change in fluorescence, which signals the presence of the CWA. However, such groups are also basic and so sensitive to acid. Hence it is critical to understand as to whether it is acid or the CWA simulant that gives rise to a change in the fluorescence. In this presentation I will describe a study on disentangling the two responses and implications for the application of nucleophilic/basic sensing systems to real-world CWA detection.

12:00 PM

Lunch + Poster Presentation

AGSE102

Catering provided. Student posters on display in AGSE foyer.

Session 3 - Chair: Ahmad Kandjani

1:15 PM

Prof. Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh

Keynote - Liquid Metal Enabled Sensors

AGSE202

Liquid metals (LMs) are group of low melting point metals and alloys combining metallic and liquid properties. In essences, they are electronic liquid with enigmatic interfacial chemistry and physics. The characteristics of LMs such as softness, electrical and thermal conductivity, as well as their unique interfacial chemistry has eclipsed various research disciplines. These features make them promising materials for driving chemical reactions on their surfaces for designing nanoarchitectonic systems and also their bulk for developing a variety of physical systems, specifically those that can be used for sensing. Utilization of LMs as responsive interfaces, enabling sensing in a flexible and versatile manner. Additionally, responsiveness to various stimuli and easy-to-functionalize interface of LMs make them ideal candidates for many sensing applications. The talk provides an overview on the synthesis and applications of LMs based materials in a variety of sensing approaches including different physical and chemical sensors. The unique features of LMs, which makes them promising materials in each category of sensors, are discussed in followed by relevant case studies in sensing applications.

2:00 PM

A/Prof. Jian Zhen Ou

Two-Dimensional Metal Oxides: a Paradigm for Optics-Based Chemical Sensing

AGSE202

The discovery of graphene inspires the exploration of the atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) structure in various layered elements and compounds ranging from insulators, semiconductors, semimetals, and metals, possibly revolutionizing the fields across electronics, optics, catalysis, and sensing. While metal oxides are considered classical materials for chemical sensing, relatively little attention has been paid to the study of their 2D morphology given the scarcity of intrinsically layered crystal structures in metal oxides. In this presentation, I will introduce the recent research progress of my research team specifically on the development of 2D intrinsic and doped metal oxides as well as the use of their peculiar optical properties for high-performance chemical sensing.

2:30 PM

A/Prof. Mahnaz Shafiei

Nanomaterials and Hybrid Structures for Chemical Sensing

AGSE202

This talk will focus on development of miniature, low-power resistance and capacitance gas sensors with high performance employing nanomaterials for sustainable use in health and environmental monitoring. The sensing materials include 2D nanomaterials (e.g. layered transition metal dichalcogenides, metal oxides and graphene materials), 1D electrospun nanofibres, organic semiconducting materials and their hybrid structure. These novel sensors can be embedded in sensor nodes for the Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications or in mobile systems (such as Smart Phones, Robots and Unmanned Vehicles) for continuous monitoring of air pollutants and greenhouse gases.

3:00 PM

Afternoon Tea

AGSE102

Catering provided.

Session 4 - Chair: Ahmad Kandjani

3:30 PM

Prof. Subhas Mukhopadhyay

Fabrication and Characterization of Nanotechnology Based Smart Sensors for Better Living

AGSE202

An increase in world population along with a signiﬁcant aging portion is forcing rapid rises in healthcare costs. The healthcare system is going through a transformation in which continuous monitoring of inhabitants is possible even without hospitalization. The advancement of sensing technologies, embedded systems, wireless communication technologies, nano-technologies, and miniaturization makes it possible to develop smart medical systems. Wearable sensors monitor physiological parameters continuously along with detect other symptoms such as any abnormal and/or unforeseen situations which need immediate attention. Therefore, necessary help can be provided in times of dire need. This seminar will discuss fabrication and characterization of nanotechnology sensors based on MEMS/NEMS as well as flexible materials to develop wearable and medical devices and issues to be addressed to tackle the challenges.

4:00 PM

Dr. Ylias Sabri

Long Range Ordered Nanostructures for Chemical Sensing

AGSE202

Crystal lithography (CL) can be used to design such 2D or 3D patterns, where these crystals are low cost yet are able to cover large surfaces uniformly. Unlike the classical method of lithography, CL involves transferring nanoscale patterns between surfaces, making it a good candidate for generating uniform, seamless, and large scale nanostructures. Though this approach has found its ways into chemical sensin, methods to increase the sensitivity, selectivity and performance of the CL derived sensors and strategies to generate uniform composite materials remain open challenges. This talk will demonstrate a novel strategy to fabricate seamless heterostructures with long-rang ordered crystal arrangement for various chemical sensing applications.

4:30 PM

Prof. Elisabetta Comini

Nanostructures and Heterostructure as Building Block for Chemical Sensing Devices

Streamed from Italy

Day by day environmental monitoring is getting more and more essential due to the continuous rise in human activities especially in the direction of industrial and technological developments. With these developments, the demand of highly efficient sensing device is also rising. In this talk, I will be presenting metal oxides nanostructures (nanowires, nanotubes, surface functionalized nanowires and heterostructures) for chemical compounds monitoring. To develop these nanostructures, different growth and characterization techniques were used. Finally, the sensing response of these nanostructures were examined under different gas analytes. Different strategies to improve sensitivity and selectivity of metal oxide chemical sensors will be discussed.

5:00 PM

Dr. Ahmad Kandjani

Closing and Student Poster Awards

AGSE202

The seminar will be concluded and awards will be presented for the student poster competition.

CNA Summit 2022

The summit has concluded and this site will be archived. The organising committee wishes to express their gratitude to all speakers and attendees. Recordings of talks will be made available in the near future.