Recent advances of drugs monitoring in oral fluid and comparison with blood.

The use of alternative matrices in toxicological analyses has been on the rise in clinical and forensic settings. Oral fluid (OF), as non-invasive fluid, has attracted attention in the field of drug screening, both for therapeutic and forensic purposes, as well as for medical diagnosis, clinical management, on-site (real time) doping and for monitoring environmental exposure to toxic substances. A good correlation between OF and blood is now established for drug concentrations. Therefore, OF might be a potential substitute of blood, especially for long-term surveillance (e.g., therapeutic drugs) or to screen a large number of patients, as well as for the development of salivary point-of-care technologies. In this review, we aimed to summarize and critically evaluate the current literature that focused on the comparison of drugs detection in OF and blood specimens.

Platinum diimine-dithiolate complexes as a new class of photoconducting compounds for pristine photodetectors: case study on [Pt(bipy)(Naph-edt)] (bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine; Naph-edt2- = 2-naphthylethylene-1,2-dithiolate).

The photoconducting properties of platinum diimine-dithiolate complex [Pt(bipy)(Naph-edt)] (1; bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine; Naph-edt2- = 2-naphthylethylene-1,2-dithiolate) were investigated. DFT calculations on a model assembly with four complex units suggest that the high external quantum efficency measured on a prototype photodetector correlates with the intermolecular character of electronic excitations in the visible region.

Photoconducting Devices with Response in the Visible-Near-Infrared Region Based on Neutral Ni Complexes of Aryl-1,2-dithiolene Ligands.

Metal bis(1,2-dithiolene) complexes belonging to the class [Ni(Ar-edt)2]x- [Ar-edt2- = arylethylene-1,2-dithiolate; Ar = phenyl, (1x-), 2-naphthyl (2x-); x = 0 and 1] were fully characterized by NMR, UV-visible-near-infrared (UV-vis-NIR), diffuse reflectance, and FT-IR spectroscopy, as well as cyclic voltammetry and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. These complexes have emerged as new photoconducting materials that allowed for the development of a prototype of photodetectors with response in the vis-NIR region. The photodetecting devices showed in some cases quantum efficiencies orders of magnitude higher than those of previously reported 1,2-dithiolene systems.

Hyperbranched quasi-1D nanostructures for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells.

In this work we demonstrate hyperbranched nanostructures, grown by pulsed laser deposition, composed of one-dimensional anatase single crystals assembled in arrays of high aspect ratio hierarchical mesostructures. The proposed growth mechanism relies on a two-step process: self-assembly from the gas phase of amorphous TiO2 clusters in a forest of tree-shaped hierarchical mesostructures with high aspect ratio; oriented crystallization of the branches upon thermal treatment. Structural and morphological characteristics can be optimized to achieve both high specific surface area for optimal dye uptake and broadband light scattering thanks to the microscopic feature size. Solid-state dye sensitized solar cells fabricated with arrays of hyperbranched TiO2 nanostructures on FTO-glass sensitized with D102 dye showed a significant 66% increase in efficiency with respect to a reference mesoporous photoanode and reached a maximum efficiency of 3.96% (among the highest reported for this system). This result was achieved mainly thanks to an increase in photogenerated current directly resulting from improved light harvesting efficiency of the hierarchical photoanode. The proposed photoanode overcomes typical limitations of 1D TiO2 nanostructures applied to ss-DSC and emerges as a promising foundation for next-generation high-efficiency solid-state devices comprosed of dyes, polymers, or quantum dots as sensitizers.

Integration of an organic photodetector onto a plastic optical fiber by means of spray coating technique.

A working prototype of integrated fiber/receiver system for optical data transmission is realized. The prototype is made by directly depositing an organic photodetector onto a plastic optical fiber. For the deposition of the organic layers, spray coating is successfully exploited. Operation over four orders of magnitude range of light intensities as well as photoresponse to pulsed stimulation are demonstrated.

Organic light detectors: photodiodes and phototransistors.

While organic electronics is mostly dominated by light-emitting diodes, photovoltaic cells and transistors, optoelectronics properties peculiar to organic semiconductors make them interesting candidates for the development of innovative and disruptive applications also in the field of light signal detection. In fact, organic-based photoactive media combine effective light absorption in the region of the spectrum from ultraviolet to near-infrared with good photogeneration yield and low-temperature processability over large areas and on virtually every substrate, which might enable innovative optoelectronic systems to be targeted for instance in the field of imaging, optical communications or biomedical sensing. In this review, after a brief resume of photogeneration basics and of devices operation mechanisms, we offer a broad overview of recent progress in the field, focusing on photodiodes and phototransistors. As to the former device category, very interesting values for figures of merit such as photoconversion efficiency, speed and minimum detectable signal level have been attained, and even though the simultaneous optimization of all these relevant parameters is demonstrated in a limited number of papers, real applications are within reach for this technology, as it is testified by the increasing number of realizations going beyond the single-device level and tackling more complex optoelectronic systems. As to phototransistors, a more recent subject of study in the framework of organic electronics, despite a broad distribution in the reported performances, best photoresponsivities outperform amorphous silicon-based devices. This suggests that organic phototransistors have a large potential to be used in a variety of optoelectronic peculiar applications, such as a photo-sensor, opto-isolator, image sensor, optically controlled phase shifter, and opto-electronic switch and memory.

Colloidal PbS quantum dot solar cells with high fill factor.

We fabricate PbS colloidal quantum dot (QD)-based solar cells using a fullerene derivative as the electron-transporting layer (ETL). A thiol treatment and oxidation process are used to modify the morphology and electronic structure of the QD films, resulting in devices that exhibit a fill factor (FF) as high as 62%. We also show that, for QDs with a band gap of less than 1 eV, an open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.47 V can be achieved. The power conversion efficiency reaches 1.3% under 1 sun AM1.5 test conditions and 2.4% under monochromatic infrared (lambda=1310 nm) illumination. A consistent mechanism for device operation is developed through a circuit model and experimental measurements, shedding light on new approaches for optimization of solar cell performance by modifying the interface between the QDs and the neighboring charge transport layers.