Highly Selective Sensing

About

Technology This technology provides novel, engineered surfaces containing functionalized nanoparticle adhesive elements whose surface arrangements are optimized for highly selective adhesion, sensing and separation of biological or nonbiological analyte particles in a broad range of sizes, from submicron to tens of microns. The nanoparticle- textured surfaces are designed to exploit repulsive interactions between analyte particles and the main portion of the surface, in addition to attractions between the adhesive elements and the target particles. The competitive attractive and repulsive interactions produce tunable selective dynamic adhesion for analyte particles, discriminating targets on the basis of size, local curvature (roughness), net charge density, and arrangement of surface functional groups. Advantages High Selectivity: The novel surface design incorporates analyte interactions with both the nanoparticles and the main body of the surface. This produces enhanced selectivity for analyte adhesion, sensing and separation, compared with any selectivity attributed to the individual nanoparticles. Broad Applicability: These surfaces can be fabricated by using a wide variety of functionalized nanoparticles on planar or arbitrarily-shaped non-planar surfaces (including fibers and packings) for the characterization and/or separation of a variety of analytes. Low-Cost Surface Fabrication Process: The surface fabrication does not require sophisticated and costly patterning technologies, and also may not require organic solvents. Re-Usable, Self-Cleaning Surfaces: The surfaces can be constructed such that a portion of the parameter space for these surfaces produces weak net attractions between targets and the collector, such that the collecting surface spontaneously clears after an exposure, facilitating repeat uses.