
Ali DouakiIstituto Italiano di Tecnologia | IIT
Ali Douaki
Doctor of Philosophy
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42
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Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (42)
In the food industry, innovative packaging solutions are increasingly important for reducing food waste and for contributing to global sustainability efforts. However, current food packaging is generally passive and unable to adapt to changes in the food environment in real-time. To address this, we have developed a battery-less and autonomous smar...
Solid‐state nanopore gating inspired by biological ion channels is gaining increasing traction due to a large range of applications in biosensing and drug delivery. Integration of stimuli‐responsive molecules such as poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) inside nanopores can enable temperature‐dependent gating, which so far has only been demonstrate...
Currently, there is a high interest in novel plasmonic platforms and materials able to extend their applicability into the ultraviolet (UV) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the UV it is possible to explore the spectral properties of biomolecules that have only a small cross-section in the visible spectral range. However, most plasmonic me...
Solid-state nanopores are a key platform for single-molecule detection and analysis, which allows property engineering by controlling size, shape, and chemical functionalization. However, approaches that rely on polymers that have limits with respect to hard- and robustness, durability, and refractive index, and nanopores made of oxides with high d...
Solid-state nanopore gating inspired by biological ion channels is gaining increasing traction due to a large range of applications in biosensing and drug delivery. Integration of stimuli-responsive molecules such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) inside nanopores can enable temperature-dependent gating, which so far has only been demonstrate...
Nanopore sensing is a key technology for single-molecule detection and analysis. Solid-state nanopores have emerged as a versatile platform, since their fabrication allows to engineer their properties by controlling size, shape, and chemical functionalization. However, lithography-based fabrication approaches for non-planar nanopores-on-chip rely o...
There is a high current interest for novel plasmonic platforms and materials able to extend their applicability into the ultraviolet (UV) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In the UV it is possible to explore spectral properties of biomolecules with small cross section in the visible spectral range. However, most used metals in plasmonics have...
Ionic Current Rectification (ICR) can appear in nanopores, causing a diode-like behavior that originates from different efficiency of ion transport through the pore channel with respect to the applied voltage bias polarity. This effect is particularly interesting for nanopores with a short channel length, that is smaller than 500 nm, because then t...
Aptamer-based sensing of small molecules such as dopamine and serotonin in the brain, requires characterization of the specific aptamer sequences in solutions mimicking the in vivo environment with physiological ionic concentrations. In
particular, divalent cations (Mg2+ and Ca2+) present in brain fluid, have been shown to affect the conformational...
Aptamer-based sensing of small molecules such as dopamine and serotonin in the brain, requires characterization of the specific aptamer sequences in solutions mimicking the in vivo environment with physiological ionic concentrations. In particular, divalent cations (Mg2+ and Ca2+) present in brain fluid, have been shown to affect the conformational...
Carbon nanotubes are a promising sensing material for bio-transduction devices, due to their unique electrical properties, nanosize, bio-compatibility, and their simple low-cost processability. In this contribution, we present two classes of devices (i.e., electrolyte-gated field-effect transistor-based sensors and gas sensors) fabricated by facile...
Aptamers that undergo conformational changes upon small-molecule recognition
have been shown to gate the ionic flux through nanopores by rearranging charge
density within the aptamer-occluded orifice. However, mechanistic insight into such
systems where biomolecular interactions are confined in nanoscale spaces, is limited. To understand the fundam...
The polymer thin-film memristors were fabricated by means of a simple and low-cost spray coating printing technique, and later characterized. The realized polymer-based memristors present a sandwich structure composed of an indium tin oxide (ITO) bottom electrode, a biocompatible polymeric resistive layer consist of poly(3,4 ethyldioxythio-phene)po...
Aptamer-based sensing of small molecules such as dopamine and serotonin in the brain, requires characterization of the specific aptamer sequences in solutions mimicking the in vivo environment with physiological ionic concentrations. In particular, divalent cations (Mg2+ and Ca2+) present in brain fluid, have been shown to affect the conformational...
Triboelectric Nanogenerator
Triboelectric nanogenerator is an innovative double-layer ridged structure with exceptional capabilities for powering and integrating low-energy electronics seamlessly into various wearable and healthcare devices, as demonstrated by Raheel Riaz, Luisa Petti, and co-workers in article 2202106. Besides efficiently generati...
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have demonstrated great promise especially for the realization of self‐powered biomedical sensors. Nevertheless, developing TENG sensors able to detect the broad range of biomechanical movements experienced on the human body is still a challenge. Herein, a unique ridge‐structured device sensitive to wide range o...
Plasmonic solid‐state nanopores with tunable hole diameters can be prepared via a photocatalytic effect resulting from the enhanced electromagnetic (EM) field inside a metallic ring on top of a dielectric nanotube. Under white light illumination, the plasmon‐enhanced EM‐field induces a site‐selective metal nucleation and growth within the ring. Thi...
CNTs based chemiresistive gas sensors are known to not fully recover to the baseline after gas exposure. This is why often heat is applied to thermally activate the sensor and improve the gas desorption process occurring at the surface. In this paper, we combine single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) with conjugated polymers (CPs) i.e., Poly(3-hexylthiophene)...
Aptamers that undergo conformational changes upon small-molecule recognition have been shown to gate the ionic flux through nanopores by rearranging charge density within the aptamer-occluded orifice. However, mechanistic insight into such systems where biomolecular interactions are confined in nanoscale spaces, is limited. To shed light on the fun...
We show that plasmonic solid-state nanopores with tunable hole diameter can be prepared via a photocatalytic effect resulting from the enhanced electromagnetic field inside a metallic ring prepared on top of a dielectric nanotube. Under white light illumination, the maximum field intensity in these nanorings induces a site selective metal nucleatio...
Aptamers are chemically synthesized single-stranded DNA or RNA oligonucleotides
nowadays widely used in sensors and nanoscale devices as highly sensitive biorecognition elements. With proper design, aptamers are able to bind to a specific target molecule with high selectivity. To date, the systematic evolution of ligand by exponential enrichment (S...
A delivery platform of active compounds on demand has been developed, composed of a flexible mat of CO2-derived poly (propylene carbonate) (PPC) electrospun fibers, loaded with antioxidant cinnamon essential oil (CEO), covered with poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM). The PED...
In this work, we propose a novel disposable flexible and screen-printed electrochemical aptamer-based sensor (aptasensor) for the rapid detection of chlorpyrifos (CPF). To optimize the process, various characterization procedures were employed, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS),...
Abstract
Here we propose the use of a diode-based sensor fabricated on a glass substrate coated with an ITO electrode (anode) with a spin-coated semiconducting polymer layer (e.g., Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), PCBM) and aluminum counter electrodes (cathode) with a porous structure created by colloidal photolithography. Ammonia molecules can diffu...
Sensing technologies are the basic perception layer of the so called “Agriculture 4.0”. Among the different types of sensing locations for ”Agriculture 4.0”, plant sensors positioned on its surface or inserted directly in the plants could enable an early detection of both biotic and abiotic stresses. Electrical-based approaches like transistor-base...
In this work, we present a novel, sensitive, easy-to-fabricate, flexible amperometric sensor constituted by screen-printed silver (Ag) electrodes functionalized with a copper (Cu) film electrodeposited on top of a spray coated network of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The Cu/SWCNTs/Ag electrode showed excellent catalytic activity towards...
Nitrate (NO3–) contamination is becoming a major concern due to the negative effects of an excessive NO3– presence in water which can have detrimental effects on human health. Sensitive, real-time, low-cost, and portable measurement systems able to detect extremely low concentrations of NO3– in water are thus becoming extremely important. In this w...
In this work, Schottky diodes based on amorphous indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO) were fabricated on cellulose microfiber paper substrate. Silver lines used as the Schottky barrier were printed, in parallel to thermally evaporated Cr/Au ohmic contact, using a dispense printer. The morphological and electrical characteristics of the devices are pres...
In this work, we realized a printed immunosensor based on a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to allow histamine detection. We investigated the effect of modifying the immunosensor electrodes with spray-deposited poly(3,4-ethyldioxythiophene)poly(styrenesulfunate) (PEDOT:PSS) and single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) films. Cycl...
Ochratoxin A (OTA) is one of the most widely known and highly toxic types of mycotoxins, able to contaminate different food products and result in serious health problems for consumers. It is therefore important to detect OTA using fast, simple and reliable techniques. In this work, bendable and stretchable selective OTA biosensors were screen-prin...
Furaneol is a widely used flavoring agent, which can be naturally found in different products, such as strawberries or thermally processed foods. This is why it is extremely important to detect furaneol in the food industry using ultra-sensitive, stable, and selective sensors. In this context, electrochemical biosensors are particularly attractive...
Abstract
Heterocyclic amine histamine is a well-known foodborne toxicant (mostly linked to “scombroid poisoning”) synthesized from the microbial decarboxylation of amino acid histidine. In this work, we report the fabrication of a flexible screen-printed immunosensor based on a silver electrode coated with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) fo...