Biomimetic Nanoporous Anodic Alumina Distributed Bragg Reflectors in the Form of Films and Microsized Particles for Sensing Applications.
In this study, we produce for the first time biomimetic films and microsized particles based on nanoporous anodic alumina distributed Bragg reflectors (NAA-DBRs) by a rational galvanostatic pulse-anodization approach. These biomimetic photonic structures can feature a broad range of vivid bright colors, which can be tuned across the UV-visible spectrum by engineering their nanoporous structure through different anodization parameters. The effective medium of NAA-DBRs films is systematically assessed as a function of the anodization period, the anodization temperature, and the current density ratio by reflectometric interference spectroscopy (RIfS). This analysis makes it possible to establish the most sensitive structure toward changes in its effective medium. Subsequently, specific detection of vitamin C molecules is demonstrated. The obtained results reveal that NAA-DBRs with optimized structure can achieve a low limit of detection for vitamin C molecules as low as 20 nM, a sensitivity of 227±4 nm μM(-1), and a linearity of 0.9985. Finally, as proof of concept, we developed a new photonic nanomaterial based on NAA-DBR microsized particles, which could provide new opportunities to produce microsized photonic analytical tools.
School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Adelaide , Engineering North Building, 5005 Adelaide, Australia.
Yuting
Y
Chen
School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Adelaide , Engineering North Building, 5005 Adelaide, Australia.
Abel
A
Santos
School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Adelaide , Engineering North Building, 5005 Adelaide, Australia.
Ye
Y
Wang
School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Adelaide , Engineering North Building, 5005 Adelaide, Australia.
Tushar
T
Kumeria
Junsheng
J
Li
Changhai
C
Wang
School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Adelaide , Engineering North Building, 5005 Adelaide, Australia.
Dusan
D
Losic
D000537:Aluminum Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000032:analysis; D032701:Biomimetics; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D004566:Electrodes; D008027:Light; D058608:Nanopores / Q000648:ultrastructure
D000537:Aluminum Oxide; D001205:Ascorbic Acid
biomimetic photonic coatings; nanoporous anodic alumina; pulse anodization; reflectometric interference spectroscopy; structural engineering