Development of High-performing Nanoplasmonic Biosensors with Novel Thin Films and Metasurfaces

在化学系化学测量和成像(CMI)计划的支持下，加州大学河滨分校的全成教授和他的团队正在努力开发新的光学生物传感器，通过不需要对被传感目标进行化学变化的方法来改进对蛋白质和小分子的分子传感。这些新方法的基础是使用纳米级结构的金属，因此给定能量的光在金属表面产生电子波，能量受到传感器表面附近分子存在的影响。这些纳米等离子体传感器有望为检测小分子提供新的途径，这是以前无法实现的，从长远来看，可能会显著改进对生物分子的检测。这种传感方法在广泛的应用中是必需的，包括医疗诊断、食品/水安全监测和药物研发。程团队将把他们的研究重点放在用铝而不是金或银等传统金属制造等离子体基板上。这种方法具有许多潜在的优势，包括更好的性能、更低的成本、高可持续性和长期的环境效益。该项目的高度跨学科性质为学生提供了在表面化学、材料科学、生物学和生物分析化学方面获得广泛经验的机会。在这项工作中，程教授和他的团队正在研究薄膜和纳米结构超表面格式的新兴等离子体材料。方法学旨在利用Kretschmann配置中的铝膜实现高检测灵敏度，并构建新的表面化学，从而实现界面的便捷功能化。该项目的核心技术创新是开发铝等离子激元应用，利用固有的等离子体激元特性来提高几种分析技术的能力，包括表面等离子激元共振(SPR)、表面等离子体激元成像(SPRI)和太赫兹(THz)传感。将开发新的策略来消除限制铝应用的技术障碍，并将展示利用铝亚表面的THz传感来表征分子间和分子内的弱成键网络。最后，研制了一种具有铟等离子体阵列和SPR成像的新型生物传感器。铟薄膜的探索可以为无标签检测提供新的衬底，并提供一种策略来缓解与氧化物涂层相关的限制。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With the support of the Chemical Measurement and Imaging (CMI) Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Quan Cheng and his group at the University of California-Riverside are working to develop new optical biosensors to improve molecular sensing of proteins and small molecules via methods that do not require chemical changes to the targets being sensed. These new approaches are based on use of metals structured in a way at the nanometer scale so that light of a given energy generates waves of electrons on the surface of the metals, with the energy being impacted by the presence of molecules near the surface of the sensor. These nanoplasmonic sensors are anticipated to offer new avenues for detection of small molecules that could not be achieved previously, potentially leading to significantly improved detection of biological molecules in the longer term. Such sensing methods are needed for a wide range of applications, including for medical diagnostics, for food/water safety monitoring, and for drug discovery. The Cheng group will focus their research efforts on generating plasmonic substrates with aluminum instead of traditional metals such as gold or silver. This approach has a number of potential advantages, including better performance, lower cost, high sustainability, and long-term environmental benefit. The highly interdisciplinary nature of the project offers opportunities for students to gain broad experience in surface chemistry, materials science, biology, and bioanalytical chemistry. In this work, Professor Cheng and his group are working with emerging plasmonic materials in thin film and nanostructured, meta-surface formats. Methodologies are designed to achieve high detection sensitivity with aluminum films in the Kretschmann configuration and build new surface chemistry allowing convenient functionalization of the interface. The core technical innovation of this project is in developing aluminum plasmonic applications, with the intrinsic plasmonic properties leveraged into improvements in the capacity of several analytical techniques including surface plasmon resonance (SPR), SPR imaging (SPRi), and terahertz (THz) sensing. New strategies will be developed to eliminate technical barriers that have limited application of aluminum, and THz sensing with aluminum metasurfaces will be demonstrated for the characterization of inter- and intra-molecular, weak bonding networks. Finally, a novel biosensor with indium plasmonic arrays and SPR imaging is being developed. The exploration of indium thin films could offer new substrates for label-free detection and provide a tactic to mitigate against limitations associated with oxide coatings.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.