Surface characterization of nanoparticles using near-field light scattering.

The effect of nanoparticle surface coating characteristics on colloidal stability in solution is a critical parameter in understanding the potential applications of nanoparticles, especially in biomedicine. Here we explored the modification of the surface of poly(ethylene glycol)-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (PEG-SPIOs) with the synthetic pseudotannin polygallol via interpolymer complexation (IPC). Changes in particle size and zeta potential were indirectly assessed via differences between PEG-SPIOs and IPC-SPIOs in particle velocity and scattering intensity using near-field light scattering. The local scattering intensity is correlated with the distance between the particle and waveguide, which is affected by the size of the particle (coating thickness) as well as the interactions between the particle and waveguide (related to the zeta potential of the coating). Therefore, we report here the use of near-field light scattering using nanophotonic force microscopy (using a NanoTweezerTM instrument, Halo Labs) to determine the changes that occurred in hydrated particle characteristics, which is accompanied by an analytical model. Furthermore, we found that altering the salt concentration of the suspension solution affected the velocity of particles due to the change of dielectric constant and viscosity of the solution. These findings suggest that this technique is suitable for studying particle surface changes and perhaps can be used to dynamically study reaction kinetics at the particle surface.

A nanotweezer system for evanescent wave excited surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) of single nanoparticles.

We experimentally demonstrate the integration of near-field optical tweezers with surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy by using the optical evanescent wave from a silicon nitride waveguide to trap single shell-isolated metallic nanoparticles (NPs) and simultaneously excite SERS signals of Raman reporter molecules adsorbed on the surface of the trapped metallic NPs. Both evanescent wave excited Stokes and anti-Stokes SERS spectra of waveguide trapped single silver (Ag) NPs were acquired, which were compared to their far-field SERS spectra. We investigated the trapping of bare and shell-isolated metallic NPs and determined that the addition of a shell to the metallic NPs minimized particle-induced laser damage to the waveguide, which allowed for the stable acquisition of the SERS spectra. This work realizes a new nanophotonic approach, which we refer to as near-field light scattering Raman (NLS-Raman), for simultaneous near-field optical trapping and SERS characterization of single metallic NPs.

Electroactive micro and nanowells for optofluidic storage.

This paper reports an optofluidic architecture which enables reversible trapping, detection and long term storage of spectrally multiplexed semiconductor quantum dot cocktails in electrokinetically active wells ranging in size from 200nm to 5microm. Here we describe the microfluidic delivery of these cocktails, fabrication method and principal of operation for the wells, and characterize the readout capabilities, storage and erasure speeds, internal spatial signal uniformity and potential storage density of the devices. We report storage and erase speeds of less than 153ms and 30ms respectively and the ability to provide 6-bit storage in a single 200nm well through spectral and intensity multiplexing. Furthermore, we present a novel method for enabling passive long term storage of the quantum dots in the wells by transporting them through an agarose gel matrix. We envision that this technique could find eventual application in fluidic memory or display devices.

Enhanced on-chip SERS based biomolecular detection using electrokinetically active microwells.

Here we present a novel microfluidic technique for on-chip surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) based biomolecular detection, exploiting the use of electrokinetically active microwells. Briefly, the chip comprises of a series of microfluidic channels containing embedded microwells that, when electrically actuated, either locally attract or repulse species from solution through a combination of electrokinetic effects. We demonstrate that the approach combines the advantages of existing homogeneous (solution phase) and heterogeneous (surface phase) on-chip techniques by enabling active mixing to enhance the rate of binding between the SERS enhancers and the biomolecular targets as well as rapid concentration of the product for surface phase optical interrogation. This paper describes the chip design and fabrication procedure, experimental results illustrating the optimal conditions for our concentration and mixing processes, and a numerical analysis of the flow pattern. To demonstrate the usefulness of the device we apply it to the quantitative detection of nucleic acid sequences associated with Dengue virus serotype 2. We report a limit of detection for Dengue sequences of 30 pM and show excellent specificity against other serotypes.

Nanobiosensors: optofluidic, electrical and mechanical approaches to biomolecular detection at the nanoscale.

Next generation biosensor platforms will require significant improvements in sensitivity, specificity and parallelity in order to meet the future needs of a variety of fields ranging from in vitro medical diagnostics, pharmaceutical discovery and pathogen detection. Nano-biosensors, which exploit some fundamental nanoscopic effect in order to detect a specific biomolecular interaction, have now been developed to a point where it is possible to determine in what cases their inherent advantages over traditional techniques (such as nucleic acid microarrays) more than offset the added complexity and cost involved constructing and assembling the devices. In this paper we will review the state of the art in nanoscale biosensor technologies, focusing primarily on optofluidic type devices but also covering those which exploit fundamental mechanical and electrical transduction mechanisms. A detailed overview of next generation requirements is presented yielding a series of metrics (namely limit of detection, multiplexibility, measurement limitations, and ease of fabrication/assembly) against which the various technologies are evaluated. Concluding remarks regarding the likely technological impact of some of the promising technologies are also provided.