title: Femtogram-scale photothermal spectroscopy of explosive molecules on nanostrings.
abstract: We demonstrate detection of femtogram-scale quantities of the explosive molecule 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) via combined nanomechanical photothermal spectroscopy and mass desorption. Photothermal spectroscopy provides a spectroscopic fingerprint of the molecule, which is unavailable using mass adsorption/desorption alone. Our measurement, based on thermomechanical measurement of silicon nitride nanostrings, represents the highest mass resolution ever demonstrated via nanomechanical photothermal spectroscopy. This detection scheme is quick, label-free, and is compatible with parallelized molecular analysis of multicomponent targets.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Alberta , Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada.
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Biswas
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miriyala
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Doolin
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thundat
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D015394:Molecular Structure; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000032:analysis; D036103:Nanotechnology; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D017655:Silicon Compounds / Q000032:analysis; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D013696:Temperature; D014227:Triazines / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: C000591931:1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine; D017655:Silicon Compounds; D014227:Triazines; C032734:silicon nitride