The Role of Nanoanalytics in the Development of Organic-Inorganic Nanohybrids—Seeing Nanomaterials as They Are

The functional properties of organic-inorganic (O-I) hybrids can be easily tuned by combining system components and parameters, making this class of novel nanomaterials a crucial element in various application fields. Unfortunately, the manufacturing of organic-inorganic nanohybrids still suffers from mechanical instability and insufficient synthesis reproducibility. The control of the composition and structure of nanosurfaces themselves is a specific analytical challenge and plays an important role in the future reproducibility of hybrid nanomaterials surface properties and response. Therefore, appropriate and sufficient analytical methodologies and technical guidance for control of their synthesis, characterization and standardization of the final product quality at the nanoscale level should be established. In this review, we summarize and compare the analytical merit of the modern analytical methods, viz. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), RAMAN spectroscopy, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and several mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques, that is, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), single particle ICP-MS (sp-ICP-MS), laser ablation coupled ICP-MS (LA-ICP-MS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) utilized for characterization of O-I nanohybrids. Special attention is given to laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) as a reliable nanoanalytical platform for characterization of O-I hybrid nanomaterials, their quality, design verification and validation

Application of Organic-Inorganic Hybrids in Chemical Analysis, Bio- and Environmental Monitoring

Organic-inorganic hybrids (OIH) are considered to be a powerful platform for applications in many research and industrial fields. This review highlights the application of OIH for chemical analysis, biosensors, and environmental monitoring. A methodology toward metrological traceability measurement and standardization of OIH and demonstration of the role of mathematical modeling in biosensor design are also presented. The importance of the development of novel types of OIH for biosensing applications is highlighted. Finally, current trends in nanometrology and nanobiosensors are presented

One-Pot Synthesis of Copper Iodide-Polypyrrole Nanocomposites

A novel one-pot chemical synthesis of functional copper iodide-polypyrrole composites, CuI-PPy, has been proposed. The fabrication process allows the formation of nanodimensional metal salt/polymer hybrid structures in a fully controlled time- and concentration-dependent manner. The impact of certain experimental conditions, viz., duration of synthesis, sequence of component addition and concentrations of the intact reagents on the structure, dimensionality and yield of the end-product was evaluated in detail. More specifically, the amount of marshite CuI within the hybrid composite can be ranged from 60 to 90 wt.%, depending on synthetic conditions (type and concentration of components, process duration). In addition, the conditions allowing the synthesis of nano-sized CuI distributed inside the polypyrrole matrix were found. A high morphological stability and reproducibility of the synthesized nanodimensional metal-polymer hybrid materials were approved. Finally, the electrochemical activity of the formed composites was verified by cyclic voltammetry studies. The stability of CuI-PPy composite deposited on the electrodes was strongly affected by the applied anodic limit. The proposed one-pot synthesis of the hybrid nanodimensional copper iodide-polypyrrole composites is highly innovative, meets the requirements of Green Chemistry and is potentially useful for future biosensor development. In addition, this study is expected to generally contribute to the knowledge on the hybrid nano-based composites with tailored properties

The Impact of the Functional Layer Composition of Glucose Test-Strips on the Stability of Electrochemical Response

Herein, the impact of the chemical stability of RedOx mediator ferricyanide, K3 [Fe(CN)6 ] (FC), a type of buffer solution used for bioreceptor preparation, gel composition (carboxymethylcellulose, CMC, Aerosile, AS, and alginate, ALG) on the long term stability of glucose test-strips and their analytical performance was examined. By simple addition of ALG to the functional gel aiming to improve its viscosity, we managed to enhance the sensitivity of conventional CMC-containing amperometric glucose test-strips from 3.3 µA/mM to 3.9 µA/mM and extend their shelf life from 8 months to 1.7 years. Moreover, during the course of investigations, it was revealed that the activity of enzyme in dependence with the used buffer did not linearly correlate with its activity in a dried functional layer, and the entire long-term electrochemical signal of glucose test-strips was determined by RedOx mediator FC chemical stability. The most stable and sensitive test-strips were obtained by the screen-printing approach from a gel containing 24 mg/mL GOx prepared in citrate buffer with pH 6, 200 mg/mL of FC and 10 mg/mL of CMC supplemented with 25 mg/mL of ALG

Exploring the Potential of Electroplated Chips towards Biomedical Sensing and Diagnostics

In the past decade the significant progress in the cellular stress response was witnessed. Nevertheless, the development of the minimally-invasive and accurate sensing tools for the identification of the increasing number of potentially relevant species in clinical diagnostics, using smaller sample volumes is a major challenge. Herein, the potential of the electroplated nanomaterials towards biomedical sensing and diagnostics is summarized. The key factors affecting the surface functionality, dimensionality, S/N ratio and analytical response of the prepared chips are highlighted. Furthermore, the application of electroplated chips as a fast “read out„ platform for profiling of clinical samples was demonstrated

The Role of Nanoanalytics in the Development of Organic-Inorganic Nanohybrids-Seeing Nanomaterials as They Are

The functional properties of organic-inorganic (O-I) hybrids can be easily tuned by combining system components and parameters, making this class of novel nanomaterials a crucial element in various application fields. Unfortunately, the manufacturing of organic-inorganic nanohybrids still suffers from mechanical instability and insufficient synthesis reproducibility. The control of the composition and structure of nanosurfaces themselves is a specific analytical challenge and plays an important role in the future reproducibility of hybrid nanomaterials surface properties and response. Therefore, appropriate and sufficient analytical methodologies and technical guidance for control of their synthesis, characterization and standardization of the final product quality at the nanoscale level should be established. In this review, we summarize and compare the analytical merit of the modern analytical methods, viz. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), RAMAN spectroscopy, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and several mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques, that is, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), single particle ICP-MS (sp-ICP-MS), laser ablation coupled ICP-MS (LA-ICP-MS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) utilized for characterization of O-I nanohybrids. Special attention is given to laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS) as a reliable nanoanalytical platform for characterization of O-I hybrid nanomaterials, their quality, design verification and validation

Application of organic-inorganic hybrids in chemical analysis, bio- and environmental monitoring

Organic-inorganic hybrids (OIH) are considered to be a powerful platform for applications in many research and industrial fields. This review highlights the application of OIH for chemical analysis, biosensors, and environmental monitoring. A methodology toward metrological traceability measurement and standardization of OIH and demonstration of the role of mathematical modeling in biosensor design are also presented. The importance of the development of novel types of OIH for biosensing applications is highlighted. Finally, current trends in nanometrology and nanobiosensors are presented

Analysis of fatty acids and triacylglycerides by Pd nanoparticle-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry

In this study, we propose a simple and rapid technique for characterization of free fatty acids and triacylglycerides (TAG) based on palladium nanoparticular (Pd-NP) surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization (SALDI) mass spectrometry (MS). The implemented Pd-NP material allowed detection of free fatty acids and TAGs exclusively as [M + K]+ ions in positive ion mode. Under negative ionization conditions, unusual trimetric structures were generated for free fatty acids, while TAGs underwent irreproducible degradation reactions. Importantly, the mass spectra obtained from Pd-NP targets in positive ion mode were very clean without interferences from matrix-derived ions in the low m/z range and readily enabled the detection of intact TAGs in vegetable oils without major fragmentation reactions as compared to conventional MALDI-MS, requiring only a minimal amount of sample preparation

Plant leaves as templates for soft lithography

We report a simple fast, practical and effective method for the replication of the complex venation patterns of natural leaves into PDMS with accuracy down to a lateral size of 500 nm. Optimising the amount of crosslinker enabled the replication and sealing of the microvascular structures to yield enclosed microfluidic networks. The use of plant leaves as templates for soft lithography was demonstrated across over ten species and included reticulate, arcuate, pinnate, parallel and palmate venation patterns. SEM imaging revealed replication of the plants microscopic and sub-microscopic topography into the PDMS structures, making this method especially attractive for mimicking biological structures for in vitro assays. Flow analysis revealed that the autonomous liquid transport velocity in 1st-order microchannel was 1.5–2.2 times faster than that in the 2nd-order microchannels across three leaf types, with the sorptivity rule surprisingly preserved during self-powered flow through leaf-inspired vascularity from Carpinus betulus