Graphene-Modified Nanoelectrode Sensors for In-Situ Sensing in Regenerative Medicine and Electro-Catalysis

该项目将采用一种基于超细纳米电极的新型纳米传感器技术，以实现对生物和电催化系统中诊断的小分子分析物的准确原位测量。就目前而言，目前的纳米电极传感技术存在信噪比低的问题，使得分析物浓度的微小变化难以察觉。该项目将开发功能性的石墨烯纳米材料，将其整合到纳米电极传感器中，以显著提高其灵敏度。此外，还将探索用双金属纳米颗粒和/或功能化聚合物对石墨烯修饰的纳米传感器进行化学修饰，以提高选择性。这种新型的功能纳米传感器最初将在牛胚胎中进行细胞内氧感应的评估，牛胚胎是生殖医学中的一个重要模型系统。有强有力的证据表明，监测胚胎的代谢活动，包括耗氧量，将有助于临床医生在生殖治疗中选择“最好”的胚胎。由于其超细尺寸，我们的纳米电极传感器将允许在单个细胞水平上进行准确的氧气测量，同时大大降低关键胚胎扰动的风险。同时，还将探索用于传感重要电化学反应系统中的活性中间体的功能纳米电极。用双金属(即电催化剂)纳米粒子修饰的纳米电极将被用作灵敏的电化学探针，例如用于单一催化剂纳米粒子的基础电催化研究或用于电化学反应的原位探测。这类研究对于促进对电催化产生可再生能源载体(如氢和甲烷)的基本理解非常重要。这些功能纳米传感器将被集成到一个简单的电化学反应器系统中，并在电催化过程中进行现场传感测试，包括电催化二氧化碳还原和析氢反应。

The project will adapt a novel nanosensor technology, based on ultrafine nanoelectrodes, to enable accurate in-situ measurement of diagnostic, small-molecule analytes in biological and electro-catalytic systems. As it stands, the current nanoelectrode sensing technology suffers from poor signal/noise ratio that makes small changes in analyte concentration unnoticeable. The project will develop functional, graphene nanomaterials that will be incorporated into the nanoelectrode sensors to dramatically improve their sensitivity. Further, chemical modification of the graphene-modified nanosensors with bimetallic nanoparticles and/or functionalised polymers will be explored to boost selectivity. The novel functional nanosensors will initially be assessed for intracellular oxygen sensing with in bovine embryos, an important model system in reproductive medicine. There is strong evidence that monitoring the metabolic activity of the embryo, including oxygen consumption, will help clinical practitioners to select the "best" embryos in reproductive therapy. Due to their ultrafine dimensions, our nanoelectrode sensors will allow accurate oxygen measurements on a single cellular level while substantially minimising the risk of critical embryo perturbance. In parallel, the functional nanoelectrodes will also be explored for the sensing of reactive intermediates in important electrochemical reaction systems. Nanoelectrodes modified with bi-metallic (i.e. electrocatalyst) nanoparticles will be investigated as sensitive electrochemical probes, e.g. for fundamental electrocatalytic studies of single catalyst nanoparticles or for in-situ probing in electro-chemical reactors. Such studies are highly important to advance fundamental understanding of electrocatalytic generation of renewable energy vectors, such as hydrogen and methane. The functional nanosensors will be integrated into a simple electrochemical reactor system and tested for in-situ sensing during electro-catalysis, including electrocatalytic CO2 reduction and hydrogen evolution reaction.