New nano-sculptured thin film structures for biosensing applications

环境和医学传感的纳米技术解决方案在这项由德国Lom Leipzig、以色列BGU和巴勒斯坦圣城大学提出的三方提案中阐述。需要快速检测水中的污染物、血液和其他体液中的毒素和病原体。这一问题是并将始终是全世界持续关注的问题。为了有效地解决这一问题，将使用一类被称为雕塑薄膜(STF)的纳米材料和一种传感技术来利用表面增强的光学现象。STF具有由不同形状的纳米柱组成的柱状形貌，并由1-3 nm的团簇组成。它们的孔隙率允许液体的渗透以及针对特定分析物(毒素等)的官能化。不同材料的STF将在LOM上设计和制造，使用热蒸发和电子束蒸发方法，在玻璃片和硅晶片上。这些幻灯片可以被纳米微电子刻画图案，以促进芯片上实验室的概念。STF的材料包括金属或薄覆有金属的电介质。在LOM上对STF的形态和平面波反射/透射谱进行评估后，将在BGU和Al-Quds上评估STF作为利用表面增强拉曼散射、荧光、表面等离子体共振和局部表面等离子体共振的平台。然后将建立基于这些现象的传感器，这将需要其表面的功能化以及用于特定目标检测的生物感受器共轭。

Nanotechnological solutions for environmental and medical sensing are addressed in this trilateral proposal by the lOM Leipzig Germany, BGU Israel and Al-Quds University Palestine. There is a need for rapid sensing of pollutants in water, toxins and pathogens in blood and in other body liquids. This problem Is and shall always remain an ongoing concern worldwide. In order to effectively address the problem, a class of nanomaterials will be used called sculptured thin films (STFs) and a sensing technique to exploit surface-enhanced optical phenomena. STFs have a columnar morphology comprising nano-columns of various shapes and made of 1-3 nm clusters. Their porosity allows infiltration by a liquid as well as functionalization to target specific analytes (toxins, etc.). STFs of different materials will be designed and fabricated at the lOM, using thermal evaporation and electronbeam evaporation methods, on glass slides and silicon wafers. The slides could be nanolithographically patterned to promote the lab-on-a-chip concept. The materials for STFs Include metals or dielectrics that are coated thinly with a metal. After evaluation at the lOM of their morphology and planewave reflection/transmission spectra, STFs will be evaluated at BGU and Al-Quds as platforms to exploit surface-enhanced Raman scattering, fluorescence, surface-plasmon resonance, and local surface-plasmon resonance. Sensors based on these phenomena will then be built which will require functionalization of their surfaces as well as bioreceptor conjugation for specific target detection.