Abstract: A composition can photocatalytically reduce carbon dioxide.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to materials, devices, and methods for resonant ambient thermal energy harvesting. Thermal energy can be harvested using thermoelectric resonators that capture and store ambient thermal fluctuations and convert the fluctuations to energy. The resonators can include non-linear heat transfer elements, such as thermal diodes, to enhance their performance. Incorporation of thermal diodes can allow for a dynamic rectification of temperature fluctuations into a single polarity temperature difference across a heat engine for power extraction, as compared to the dual polarity nature of the output voltage of linear thermal resonators, which typically necessitates electrical rectification to be routed to an entity for energy storage. In some embodiments, the thermal diode can be applied to transient energy harvesting to construct thermal diode bridges. Methods for constructing such devices, and using such devices, are also provided.

Abstract: Corona Phase Molecular Recognition (CoPhMoRe) utilizing a heteropolymer adsorbed onto and templated by a nanoparticle surface to recognize a specific target analyte can be used for macromolecular analytes, including proteins. A variant of a CoPhMoRe screening procedure of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) can be used against a panel of human blood proteins, revealing a specific corona phase that recognizes fibrinogen and insulin, respectively, with high selectivity.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to materials, devices, and methods for resonant ambient thermal energy harvesting. Thermal energy can be harvested using thermoelectric resonators that capture and store ambient thermal fluctuations and convert the fluctuations to energy. The thermal resonators can include heat engines disposed between masses of varying sizes or diodes. The masses or diodes can be made of high and ultra-high effusivity materials to transfer thermal energy through the resonator and optimize power output. The masses or diodes of the resonator can be tuned to the dominant frequency of the temperature waveform to maximize the amount of energy being converted. The resonators can be added to existing structures to supply or generate power, and, in some embodiments, the structures themselves can be a mass of the thermal resonator. Methods for constructing and/or using such devices are also provided, as are methods for formulating ultra-high effusivity materials.

Abstract: A composition can photocatalytically reduce carbon dioxide.

Abstract: A composition can include a complex, where the complex includes a photoluminescent nanostructure and a polymer free from selective binding to an analyte, the polymer adsorbed on the photoluminescent nanostructure, and a selective binding site associated with the complex.

Abstract: In one aspect, a composition can include an organelle, and a nanoparticle having a zeta potential of less than ?10 mV or greater than 10 mV contained within the organelle. In a preferred embodiment, the organelle can be a chloroplast and the nanoparticle can be a single-walled carbon nanotube associated with a strongly anionic or strongly cationic polymer.

Abstract: A living plant can function as self-powered auto-samplers and preconcentrators of an analyte within ambient groundwater, detectors of the analyte contained therein. For example, a pair of near infrared (IR) fluorescent sensors embedded within the mesophyll of the plant leaf can be used as detectors of the nitroaromatic molecules, with the first IR channel engineered through CoPhMoRe to recognize analyte via an IR fluorescent emission and the second IR channel including a functionalized nanostructure that acts as an invariant reference signal.

Abstract: A composition can photocatalytically reduce carbon dioxide.

Abstract: An particle can include a first sheet comprising a layer including a first material, wherein the first sheet includes a first outer surface and a first inner surface; and a second sheet comprising a layer including a second material, where the second sheet includes a second outer surface and a second inner surface, wherein the first sheet and the second sheet form a space, the space is encapsulated by the first sheet and the second sheet.

Abstract: A single chirality single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT), and combinations thereof, can be used to detect trace levels of chemical compounds in vivo with high selectivity.

Abstract: A sensor for detecting an analyte can include a photoluminescent nanostructure embedded in a sensor hydrogel. The sensor hydrogel can be supported by a substrate hydrogel.

Abstract: Sensing compositions, sensing element, sensing systems and sensing devices for the detection and/or quantitation of one or more analytes. Compositions comprising carbon nanotubes in which the carbon nanotubes retain their ability to luminesce and in which that luminescence is rendered selectively sensitive to the presence of an analyte. Compositions comprising individually dispersed carbon nanotubes, which are electronically isolated from other carbon nanotubes, yet which are associated with chemical selective species, such as polymers, particularly biological polymers, for example proteins, which can interact selectively with, or more specifically selectivity bind to, an analyte of interest. Chemically selective species bind, preferably non-covalently, to the carbon nanotube and function to provide for analyte selectivity. Chemically selective species include polymers to which one or more chemically selective groups are covalently attached.

Abstract: A composition can photocatalytically reduce carbon dioxide.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to materials, devices, and methods for resonant ambient thermal energy harvesting. Thermal energy can be harvested using thermoelectric resonators that capture and store ambient thermal fluctuations and convert the fluctuations to energy. The resonators can include non-linear heat transfer elements, such as thermal diodes, to enhance their performance. Incorporation of thermal diodes can allow for a dynamic rectification of temperature fluctuations into a single polarity temperature difference across a heat engine for power extraction, as compared to the dual polarity nature of the output voltage of linear thermal resonators, which typically necessitates electrical rectification to be routed to an entity for energy storage. In some embodiments, the thermal diode can be applied to transient energy harvesting to construct thermal diode bridges. Methods for constructing such devices, and using such devices, are also provided.

Abstract: An particle can include a first sheet comprising a layer including a first material, wherein the first sheet includes a first outer surface and a first inner surface; and a second sheet comprising a layer including a second material, where the second sheet includes a second outer surface and a second inner surface, wherein the first sheet and the second sheet form a space, the space is encapsulated by the first sheet and the second sheet.

Abstract: Select embodiments of the present invention employ biological means to direct assemble CNT-based nanostructures, allowing for scaling to macrostructures for manufacture. In select embodiments of the present invention, a method is provided for assembling DNA-functionalized SWNTs by phosphodiester bonding catalyzed by ssDNA-ligase to form macroscopic CNT aggregates.

Abstract: A composite can include alternating layers of a first layer including a 2D material and a second layer including a polymer matrix. Fabrication methods can take a thin layer of molecular thickness and construct large composite stacks that scale exponentially with the number of processing steps. An analogous shear scrolling method can create Archimedean scroll fibers from single layers with similar scaling. These methods can produce materials that demonstrate the ??? limit while combining electrical and optical properties minimal volume fraction of the filler.

Abstract: Systems and methods related to optical nanosensors comprising photoluminescent nanostructures are generally described.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to materials, devices, and methods for resonant ambient thermal energy harvesting. Thermal energy can be harvested using thermoelectric resonators that capture and store ambient thermal fluctuations and convert the fluctuations to energy. The thermal resonators can include heat engines disposed between masses of varying sizes or diodes. The masses or diodes can be made of high and ultra-high effusivity materials to transfer thermal energy through the resonator and optimize power output. The masses or diodes of the resonator can be tuned to the dominant frequency of the temperature waveform to maximize the amount of energy being converted. The resonators can be added to existing structures to supply or generate power, and, in some embodiments, the structures themselves can be a mass of the thermal resonator. Methods for constructing and/or using such devices are also provided, as are methods for formulating ultra-high effusivity materials.