As the globe takes an all-hands-on-deck approach to battle the novel Coronavirus or SARS-CoV2, the virus causing the disease COVID-19, companies across industries are changing processes and adapting systems to join the fight against this relentless pandemic. From apparel companies altering their manufacturing processes to produce masks and hospital gowns, to Airbus making ventilators, companies are ditching their typical approach of doing business, and applying whatever knowledge and resources they have to end this pandemic that's altered the way of life for almost every person across the planet!
There are endless ways to aid in the fight against SARS-CoV2, but one particular aspect that's rightfully received attention from companies across industries is the testing process for this devastating virus. To address the shortage of testing supplies 3D printing companies, like Origin and Stratasys, have partnered and committed to producing millions of swabs necessary to SARS-Cov2 testing. These 3D printing companies have pivoted away from manufacturing their typical automotive and consumer products and committed to printing over one million swabs per week, which has otherwise hampered millions from getting tested.
XpresSpa Group Inc., a company that operates spas in airports across the U.S., recently launched a subsidiary, XpresTest Inc. According to the press release, XpresSpa Group is ready to reactivate and redeploy its 46 locations across 23 airports for SARS-CoV2 testing sites. Currently, XpresSpa Group is in talks with major airports, including JFK International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago O'Hare International Airport to pilot COVID-19 screening and testing for airline employees, including TSA and U.S. Customs Officers.
Advanced tech companies, and the labs that support them, are also able to address SARS-CoV2 testing in groundbreaking ways. At AKHAN Semiconductor, we specialize in the fabrication and application of lab-grown, electronic-grade diamonds. Typically, our diamond tech is used as superior semiconductor material - the nanocarbon material we manufacture is proven to perform much better than industry-standard silicon - enabling devices that are smaller, more powerful, and better at conducting heat.
Additionally, in a recent breakthrough with Lockheed Martin, we demonstrated the capability of a new diamond-based coating technology to act as a countermeasure to directed energy weapons. Touted as a new solution to increase the survivability of manned and unmanned military aircraft systems, the diamond coating is used across aircraft cockpits and control centers.
Relying on our inherent knowledge of semiconductor materials, as the dreaded pandemic developed, we quickly realized that our breakthrough nanocarbon material that acts as a protective coating for optical sensor/detector systems in Army aviation, can also address the urgent, unprecedented, and unmet demand for rapid, sensitive, specific, and low-cost diagnosis of viral antigens, like SAR-CoV2.
Currently, the sample time for the diagnostics systems being utilized for SARS-CoV2 testing take anywhere from five to fifteen minutes, but there are testing systems, already proven effective in the detection of SARS, Ebola, and Rotavirus, that feature sample times of mere second. These Biosensing Field Effect Transistor (Bio-FET) devices require advanced nanocarbon materials and are an attractive next-generation platform for highly selective and ultra-sensitive virus detection.
Since these biosensor systems rely on semiconductor materials - typically silicon - there have been major limitations around the sensitivity of device structures and large-scale manufacturability of the semiconductor materials utilized. These inefficiencies, however, could be addressed by applying advanced nanocarbon semiconductor materials, such as nanocrystalline diamond and graphene oxide.
Up until the recent breakthrough with Lockheed Martin, this new age nanocarbon material was a costly and time-consuming material to fabricate. Now that we’re able to manufacture it in batch quality at a low cost, it only makes sense that we apply it to these crucial Bio-FET devices, where biosensors detect how electrical characteristics of systems change due to closeness or contact with analytes. These FET biosensors rely on a semiconductor channel to connect the source and the drain terminals. The charged bio-molecule is attracted, immobilized, and then absorbed in the semiconductor, which produces an electric field that changes the charge carrier density within the device. Nanocarbon semiconductor materials, such as graphene and nanocrystalline diamond, are attractive as FET biosensor materials because of their superior electronic properties (both conductive and insulating), amphiphilicity (selectively hydrophobic or hydrophilic), biocompatibility, and chemical resistance.
The Bio-FET devices that utilize higher quality nanocarbon as device materials as opposed to previous iterations of graphene oxide, avoid limitations, including:
- Graphene Flaking – Graphene is inherently a 2D material that is only one atomic layer thick, causing it to be susceptible to flaking that destroys the active part of semiconductors. When this thin layer of graphene is spread across a large surface, atoms tend to pile on top of one another or split and bond to other materials. Nanocarbon materials prevent flaking because there is no stronger covalent bond than carbon to carbon, so the graphene won’t bond with anything else because it's already attached to its preferential atomic bonding partner, leading to an optimized chip.
- Surface Oxidation – Bio-FET devices are so sensitive because the semiconductors are much smaller than the actual virus it’s detecting. This means when the virus sits on top of the graphene, it’s easily detectable because it covers the entire semiconductor. If the virus can’t sit on the entire semiconductor system, oxygen will bond to the graphene, instead of the virus. Oxidation happens when oxygen bonds to the graphene, instead of the virus. The advanced nanocarbon material is what prevents that oxygen bond.
While nanocarbon materials address the speed at which test results are provided, as well as manufacturing scalability, a materials company cannot fight the dreaded pandemic brought on by SARS-CoV2 alone! Much like Origin partnering with Stratasys to manufacture millions of swabs, or XpresSpa Group working with airports for testing sites, partners are needed! If we want to rapidly develop and proliferate this nanocarbon technology, and meet the global demand for faster, more affordable COVID19 testing, we must develop partnerships with existing labs and businesses that are already working on these biosensor applications for diagnostic systems targeting SARS-CoV2. After all, it’s an all-hands-on-deck approach to ending this dreaded virus!
Author Note:
Adam Khan is the Founder and CEO of AKHAN Semiconductor.