I-Corps: High-sensitivity, optical, universal nanodetection system

在医疗诊断领域，有一组新兴的数据表明，挥发性代谢物提供了感染和疾病状态的标志。例如，在患者身上发现了囊性纤维化的生物标记物？在患者的呼吸中发现了唾液和肺癌的生物标记物。一种具有痕量检测限度的简便方法不仅有利于诊断，还有助于对护理点进行评估。在汽车工业中，一氧化二氮的检测下限和定量实时监测一直是人们关注的问题。为了应对这些挑战，该团队提出了低成本、可大面积扩展、检测下限低的表面增强拉曼散射(SERS)传感器。该团队开发了一种创新的方法，可以在两嵌段共聚物薄膜上制备自组织的金属纳米粒子簇作为表面增强拉曼散射(SERS)活性结构。基于表面增强拉曼散射的传感器提供了表面附近分子的分子指纹，尽管重复性和成本问题对技术影响有限。所开发的方法可重复地生产尺寸可控的纳米粒子簇，具有纳米级的粒子间距，并且在传感器性能的可伸缩性、成本和点到点的重复性方面代表着显著的进步。该团队从理论和实验上确定了作为光学传感器所需的关键几何特性。

In the sector of medical diagnostic, there is an emerging set of data showing that volatile metabolites provide a signature of infectious and disease states. For instance, biomarkers for cystic fibrosis have been found in patients? saliva and lung cancer biomarkers have been found in a patient's breath. A facile method with trace detection limits would benefit not only diagnosis but also point-of-care evaluations. In the automotive industry, there is concern with detection limit and quantitative real time monitoring of nitrous oxide. To address these challenges, this team proposes the surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors that are low-cost, scalable to large areas, with low detection limits.An innovative method has been developed for fabricating self-organized clusters of metal nanoparticles on diblock copolymer thin films as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-active structures. Sensors based on SERS provide a molecular fingerprint of molecules near the surface though issues of reproducibility and cost have limited technological impact. The developed method reproducibly produces size controlled nanoparticle clusters with nanometer scale inter-particle spacing and represents a significant advancement in scaling, cost and point-to-point reproducibility in sensor performance. The team has theoretically and experimentally identified key geometric properties desirable for performance as optical sensors.