Nam-Trung Nguyen

Griffith University · Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre

Leaf scald (LS) caused by Xanthomonas albilineans (Xalb), is a major bacterial disease of sugarcane. The unreliable symptom expressions make traditional visual detection challenging. The molecular methods of detection require expensive equipment, labor‐intensive, and time‐consuming. This study proposes a novel electrochemical (EC)‐approach, that is...

Surface wettability, the interaction between a liquid droplet and the surface it contacts, plays a key role in influencing droplet behavior and flow dynamics. There is a growing interest in designing surfaces with tailored wetting properties across diverse applications. Advanced fabrication techniques that create surfaces with unique wettability of...

Surface wettability, the interaction between a liquid droplet and the surface it contacts, plays a key role in influencing droplet behavior and flow dynamics. There is a growing interest in designing surfaces with tailored wetting properties across diverse applications. Advanced fabrication tech-niques that create surfaces with unique wettability o...

The evaporation dynamics of sessile droplets on re-entrant microstructures are critical for applications in microfluidics, thermal management, and self-cleaning surfaces. Re-entrant structures, such as mushroom-like shapes with overhanging features, trap air beneath droplets to enhance non-wettability. The present study examines the evaporation of...

The development of efficient and sustainable chemical processes which use greener reagents and solvents, currently play an important role in current research. Methanol, a cheap and readily available resource from chemical industry, could be activated by transition metal catalysts. This review focuses in covering the recent five‐years literature and...

Efficient energy transfer management in catalytic processes is crucial for overcoming activation energy barriers while minimizing costs and CO2 emissions. We exploit here a concept of CuO particle design with multiple gas‐stabilizing sites, engineered to function as cavitation nuclei and catalysts. This concept facilitates the selective and efficie...

The oxidation of renewable resources is a promising process that has great potential in addressing the climate change and building the circular economic, sustainable society and green chemical supply chain. This study explores the application of ultrasound in oxidation processes using the wastewater treatment as a case study. Advanced oxidation pro...

The development of efficient and sustainable chemical processes which use greener reagents and solvents, currently play an important role in current research. Methanol, a cheap and readily available resource from chemical industry, could be activated by transition metal catalysts. This review provides a systematic summary of strategies for methanol...

Efficient energy transfer management in catalytic processes is crucial for overcoming activation energy barriers while minimizing costs and CO2 emissions. We exploit here a concept of CuO particle design with multiple gas‐stabilizing sites, engineered to function as cavitation nuclei and catalysts. This concept facilitates the selective and efficie...

Sonocatalysis is a specialised field within sonochemistry that leverages the interaction between ultrasound and solid catalysts to enhance the rate and selectivity of chemical reactions. As a non-traditional catalytic activation method, sonocatalysis can profoundly modify reaction mechanisms and unlock novel activation pathways that are not typical...

Digital nucleic acid analysis has emerged as a prominent tool for the detection and absolute quantification of diverse pathogens. Digital loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (dLAMP) offers highly sensitive, specific, time‐efficient, and cost‐effective nucleic acid amplification. However, existing dLAMP techniques face challenges such as droplet...

This study systematically explores the wetting characteristics of re‐entrant microstructures, focusing on the interplay between the unique geometries and material compositions. While silicon dioxide (SiO₂) re‐entrant microstructures are previously studied, this research pioneers the fabrication of silicon carbide (SiC) re‐entrant microstructures. T...

Microfluidics, the science and technology of manipulating fluids in microscale channels, offers numerous advantages, such as low energy consumption, compact device size, precise control, fast reaction, and enhanced portability. These benefits have led to applications in biomedical assays, disease diagnostics, drug discovery, neuroscience, and so on...

Microneedles hold remarkable potential for providing convenient and unique solutions for disease diagnosis and therapy. However, their integration into clinical practices has been slow, primarily due to the challenge of developing models that meet the criteria of a particular application. A comprehensive and systematic analysis of all aspects of mi...

Microstructured surfaces are renowned for their unique properties, such as waterproofing and low adhesion, making them highly applicable in the biomedical field. These surfaces play a crucial role in influencing cell response by mimicking the native microenvironment of biological tissues. In this study, we engineered a series of biomimetic micropat...

Micro elastofluidics is a transformative branch of microfluidics, leveraging the fluid–structure interaction (FSI) at the microscale to enhance the functionality and efficiency of various microdevices. This review paper elucidates the critical role of advanced computational FSI methods in the field of micro elastofluidics. By focusing on the interp...

The removal of oil from solid surfaces, such as textiles and plates, remains a challenge due to the strong binding affinity of the oil. Conventional methods for surface cleaning often require surfactants and mechanical abrasion to enhance the cleaning process. However, in excess, these can pose adverse effects on the environment and to the material...

Purpose Bibliometric and scientometric analyses provide a structured approach to large amounts of data, enabling the prediction of research theme trends over time, the detection of shifts in the boundaries of disciplines, and the identification of the most productive countries, institutions and scholars. In the context of prostate-specific membrane...

Context. Ratoon stunting disease (RSD), caused by Leifsonia xyli subsp. xyli (Lxx), poses a significant economic threat to sugarcane (Saccharum hybrid) worldwide. RSD is hard to manage due to its elusive visible symptomology and disease rating of cultivars is subjective. Aims. We aimed to develop a sensitive, rapid, and quantitative Lxx diagnostic...

Microstructured surfaces are renowned for their unique properties, such as waterproofing and low adhesion, making them highly applicable in the biomedical field. These surfaces play a crucial role in influencing cell response by mimicking the native microenvironment of biological tissues. In this study, we engineered a series of biomimetic micropat...

Microstructured surfaces are renowned for their unique properties, such as waterproofing and low adhesion, making them highly applicable in the biomedical field. These surfaces play a crucial role in influencing cell response by mimicking the native microenvironment of biological tissues. In this study, we engineered a series of biomimetic micropat...

Micro elastofluidics is a transformative branch of microfluidics, leveraging fluid-structure interaction (FSI) at the microscale to enhance the functionality and efficiency of various microdevices. This review paper elucidates the critical role of advanced computational FSI methods in the field of micro elastofluidics. By focusing on the interplay...

Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungus that becomes pathogenic and problematic under certain biological conditions. C.albicans may cause painful and uncomfortable symptoms, as well as deaths in immunocompromised patients. Therefore, early detection of c.albicans is essential. However, conventional detection methods are costly, slow and inacces...

The green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles is an emerging and promising field owing to its environmentally friendly nature and diverse applications. In this article, a new technology for the green synthesis of functional ultrastable biopolymer gold nanoparticles is introduced. This approach employs thiolated single-stranded DNA (ssDNA-SH) aptame...

Calcium alginate elastic capsules with a core–shell structure are versatile spherical solid beads that can be produced in large quantities using various techniques. This type of capsule is a promising platform for cell culture applications, owing to its mechanical elasticity and transparency. This paper reports the production of calcium alginate ca...

In 1853, the perception of prostate cancer (PCa) as a rare ailment prevailed, was described by the eminent Londoner surgeon John Adams. Rapidly forward to 2018, the landscape dramatically altered. Currently, men face a one-in-nine lifetime risk of PCa, accentuated by improved diagnostic methods and an ageing population. With more than three million...

We report the fabrication and characterisation of magnetic liquid beads with a solid magnetic shell and liquid core using microfluidic techniques. The liquid beads consist of a fluorinated oil core and a polymer shell with magnetite particles. The beads are generated in a flow-focusing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) device and cured by photo polymeris...

Liquid beads are core–shell particles with a liquid core and a solid shell. Calcium alginate liquid beads have been emerging as a promising platform for cell encapsulation. These beads have demonstrated their capability of encapsulating and culturing a wide range of human cells for tissue engineering. However, a significant research gap remains in...

Mobility manipulation of liquid droplets is an important task of digital imicrofluidics. Acoustic levitation has revolutionised the contactless manipulation of liquid droplets for various applications. Acoustic levitation technique can be effectively used to manipulate droplets to obtain their coalescence. This paper reports a unique, versatile, an...

Understanding the growth of mesoporous crystalline materials, such as mesoporous metals, on different substrates can provide valuable insights into the crystal growth dynamics and the redox reactions that influence their electrochemical sensing performance. Herein, it is demonstrated how the amorphous nature of the glass substrate can suppress the...

Platelets play an essential role in thrombotic processes. Recent studies suggest a direct link between the increased plasma glucose, lipids, and inflammatory cytokines with platelet activation and aggregation, resulting in...

In the original publication [...]

The convergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G technology is creating a high demand in sensor signals, prompting a shift toward self-powered sensors as eco-friendly alternatives to the conventional battery-powered ones. The 3C–SiC/Si heterostructure recently has gained significant attention for sensing applications, including self-powered s...

In human life, respiration serves as a crucial physiological signal. Continuous real‐time respiration monitoring can provide valuable insights for the early detection and management of several respiratory diseases. High‐sensitivity, noninvasive, comfortable, and long‐term stable respiration devices are highly desirable. In spite of this, existing r...

Pulmonary drug delivery does not only provide non-invasive therapy for local lung diseases but also remarkably enhances systemic absorption of therapeutics owing to the tremendous surface area of the lung and fast transport of active molecules across the respiratory epithelia. In comparison to traditional delivery systems, electro-hydrodynamic atom...

Flexible and stretchable microdevices incorporate highly deformable structures, facilitating precise functionality at the micro- and millimetre scale. The flexible microdevices have showcased extensive utility in the fields of biomedicine, microfluidics,...

Wearable devices are gaining popularity in the fields of health monitoring, diagnosis, and drug delivery. Recent advances in wearable technology have enabled real-time analysis of biofluids such as sweat, interstitial...

This paper investigates for the first time the piezojunction effect in heterojunctions under external bias for ul-trasensitive strain sensing. As a proof of concept, we used sensing devices made of 3C-SiC/Si heterostructure with vertically aligned electrodes. Applying the beam bending method to characterize the sensing effect, the bending strain wa...

The response and dynamics of surface-attached bubbles in gas-oversaturated environments have practical implications for industrial processes such as photocatalytic water splitting. Surprisingly, the behavior of micro-bubbles and nanobubbles depends rather strongly on the nucleation techniques, e.g., solvent exchange gives rise to stable bubbles, wh...

The thermoelectric effect is important for thermal sensing, energy harvesting and other applications. This paper investigates the Seebeck coefficient of silicon carbide (SiC) on silicon (Si) heterojunctions and discusses the mechanism underlying the observed effects. The measured Seebeck coefficients of p-3C-SiC/p-Si and n-3C-SiC/p-Si heterojunctio...

Atoms, molecules, and nanoparticles can be spatially manipulated by an atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip, through van der Waals (vdW) and/or Coulomb forces. These point-to-point manipulations are highly accurate at nanoscale, facilitating the construction and modification of nanostructures. Nevertheless, it is difficult to manipulate 2D layers in v...

This paper reports the fabrication and characterization of magnetic liquid beads using microfluidic techniques. The liquid beads consist of a fluorinated oil core and a polymer shell embedded with magnetite particles. The beads are generated in a flow-focusing PDMS device and cured by photopolymerisation. The mobility response of the beads to an ex...

Fungal pathogens such as Candida albicans have significant impacts on women’s health and the economy worldwide. Current detection methods often require access to laboratory facilities that are costly, inconvenient, and slow to access. This often leads to self-diagnosis, self-treatment and eventual antifungal resistance. We have created a rapid (wit...

Manipulation, focusing, and separation of submicron- and nanoparticles such as extracellular vehicles (EVs), viruses and bacteria have broad applications in disease diagnostics and therapeutics. Viscoelastic microfluidic technology emerges as a...

Mobility manipulation of liquid droplets is an important task of digital imicrofluidics. Acoustic levitation has revolutionised the contactless manipulation of liquid droplets for various applications. Acoustic levitation technique can be effectively used to manipulate droplets to obtain their coalescence. This paper reports a unique, versatile, an...

Sugarcane ratoon stunting disease (RSD), caused by the bacterium Leifsonia xyli subsp. xyli (Lxx), poses a significant threat to sugarcane crops globally. Detecting RSD is challenging due to the absence of visible symptoms, leading to an increased incidence of the disease in commercial plantations. Existing molecular detection methods are costly, r...

This critical review provides an overview of the sustainability outcomes associated with flow chemistry, as a new concept in process chemistry, and its contiguous technology and engineering field, microreaction technology....

Driving a micro and nanomechanical structure to resonance and observing its resonant motion in the physical world have led to numerous fundamental discoveries in physics, sciences, chemistry, biology, and engineering, as well as device commercialization. Scaling down mechanical structures from micrometric to nanometric size has enabled the utilizat...

Analyzing the wettability of stretchable microstructured surfaces is crucial in applications like soft robotics, wearable biosensors, stretchable electronics, and electronic skin (e-skin). However, it remains unclear how stretching affects the surface free energy (SFE) of these stretchable surfaces. In this article, stretchable microstructured surf...

Currently, the treatment for acute disease encompasses the use of various biological drugs (BDs). However, the utilisation of BDs is limited due to its rapid clearance and non-specific accumulation in unwanted sites which results in a lack of therapeutic efficacy accompanied with adverse effects. While nanoparticles were considered a good candidate...