Silica diatom shells tailored with Au nanoparticles enable sensitive analysis of molecules for biological, safety and environment applications

V. Onesto, M. Villani, M. L. Coluccio, R. Majewska, A. Alabastri, E. Battista, A. Schirato, D. Calestani, N. Coppedé, M. Cesarelli, F. Amato, E. Di Fabrizio, F. Gentile*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Diatom shells are a natural, theoretically unlimited material composed of silicon dioxide, with regular patterns of pores penetrating through their surface. For their characteristics, diatom shells show promise to be used as low cost, highly efficient drug carriers, sensor devices or other micro-devices. Here, we demonstrate diatom shells functionalized with gold nanoparticles for the harvesting and detection of biological analytes (bovine serum albumin—BSA) and chemical pollutants (mineral oil) in low abundance ranges, for applications in bioengineering, medicine, safety, and pollution monitoring.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number94
JournalNanoscale Research Letters
Volume13
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).

Keywords

  • Au functionalization
  • Biological sensing
  • Diatoms
  • Frustules
  • SERS
  • Safety
  • Sensing devices

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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