title: Selective on site separation and detection of molecules in diluted solutions with super-hydrophobic clusters of plasmonic nanoparticles.
abstract: Super-hydrophobic surfaces are bio-inspired interfaces with a superficial texture that, in its most common evolution, is formed by a periodic lattice of silicon micro-pillars. Similar surfaces reveal superior properties compared to conventional flat surfaces, including very low friction coefficients. In this work, we modified meso-porous silicon micro-pillars to incorporate networks of metal nano-particles into the porous matrix. In doing so, we obtained a multifunctional-hierarchical system in which (i) at a larger micrometric scale, the super-hydrophobic pillars bring the molecules dissolved in an ultralow-concentration droplet to the active sites of the device, (ii) at an intermediate meso-scale, the meso-porous silicon film adsorbs the low molecular weight content of the solution and, (iii) at a smaller nanometric scale, the aggregates of silver nano-particles would measure the target molecules with unprecedented sensitivity. In the results, we demonstrated how this scheme can be utilized to isolate and detect small molecules in a diluted solution in very low abundance ranges. The presented platform, coupled to Raman or other spectroscopy techniques, is a realistic candidate for the protein expression profiling of biological fluids.
authors.affiliation: BioNEM, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, 88100, Italy. gentile@unicz.it.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gentile
authors.forename: Maria Laura
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Coluccio
authors.forename: Remo Proietti
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Zaccaria
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Francardi
authors.forename: Gheorghe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cojoc
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Perozziello
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raimondo
authors.forename: Patrizio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Candeloro
authors.forename: Enzo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Fabrizio
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D012235:Rhodamines / Q000737:chemistry; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry; D012996:Solutions / Q000737:chemistry; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D012235:Rhodamines; D012996:Solutions; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine; D012834:Silver; D012825:Silicon