Filtern
Erscheinungsjahr
- 2020 (21) (entfernen)
Dokumenttyp
- Zeitschriftenartikel (21) (entfernen)
Sprache
- Englisch (21) (entfernen)
Referierte Publikation
- ja (21)
Schlagworte
- Fluorescence (4)
- Laser induced plasma (3)
- LIBS (2)
- Multiplexing (2)
- Permethrin (2)
- Plasma tomography (2)
- SBA-15 (2)
- Amplification (1)
- Antibody-gated indicator delivery (1)
- BaF (1)
Organisationseinheit der BAM
- 1.9 Chemische und optische Sensorik (21) (entfernen)
Transparent dispersions of hydrophobic SrF2 :Eu3+ nanoparticles in cyclohexane with up to 20% europium were obtained by fluorolytic sol-gel synthesis followed by Phase transfer into cyclohexane through capping with sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS). The particles were characterized by TEM, XRD and DLS as spherical objects with a diameter between 6 and 11 nm in dry state. 1H-13CP MAS NMR experiments revealed the binding of the anionic sulfonate head group to the particle surface. The particles show bright red luminescence upon excitation of the aromatic capping agents, acting as antennas for an Energy transfer from the benzenesulfonate unit to the Eu3+ centers in the particles. This synthesis method overcomes the current obstacle of the fluorolytic sol-gel synthesis that transparent dispersions can be obtained directly only in hydrophilic solvents. To demonstrate the potential of such hydrophobized alkaline-earth fluoride particles, transparent luminescent organic-inorganic composites with 10% SrF2 :Eu3+ embedded into polyTEGDMA, polyBMA, poly-BDDMA and polyD3MA, respectively, were prepared, endowing the polymers with the luminescence features of the nanoparticles.
The temporal evolution of laser-induced plasmas is studied in the orthogonal double-pulse arrangement. Both the pre-ablation mode (an air spark is induced above the sample surface prior to the ablation pulse) and the re-heating mode (additional energy is delivered into the plasma created by the ablation pulse) is considered. The plasmas are investigated in terms of the temporal evolution of their electron density, temperature, and volume. The plasma volumes are determined using a time-resolved tomography technique based on the Radon transformation. The reconstruction is carried out for both white-light and band-pass filtered emissivities. The white-light reconstruction corresponds to the overall size of the plasmas. On the other hand, the band-pass emissivity reconstruction shows the distribution of the atomic sample species (Cu I). Moreover, through spectrally resolved tomographic reconstruction, the spatial homogeneity of the electron density and temperature of the plasmas is also investigated at various horizontal slices of the plasmas. Our results show that the pre-ablation geometry yields a more temporally stable and spatially uniform plasma, which could be beneficial for calibration-free laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) approaches. On the contrary, the plasma generated in the re-heating geometry exhibits significant variations in electron density and temperature along its vertical axis. Overall, our results shed further light on the mechanisms involved in the LIBS signal enhancement using double-pulse ablation.
Raman spectroscopy is becoming a commonly used, powerful tool for structural elucidation and species identification of small liquid samples, e.g. in droplet-based digital microfluidic devices. Due to the low scattering cross sections and the temporal restrictions dictated by the droplet flow, however, it depends on amplification strategies which often come at a cost. In the case of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), this can be an enhanced susceptibility towards memory effects and cross talk, whereas resonant and/or stimulated Raman techniques require higher instrumental sophistication, such as tunable lasers or the high electromagnetic field strengths which are typically provided by femtosecond lasers. Here, an alternative instrumental approach is discussed, in which stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is achieved using the single fixed wavelength output of an inexpensive diode-pumped solid-state (DPSS) nanosecond laser. The required field strengths are realized by an effective light trapping in a resonator mode inside the interrogated droplets, while the resonant light required for the stimulation is provided by the fluorescence signal of an admixed laser dye. To elucidate the underlying optical processes, proof-of-concept experiments are conducted on acoustically levitated droplets, mimicking a highly reproducible and stable digital fluidic system. By using isotope-labeled compounds, the assignment of the emitted radiation as Raman scattering is firmly corroborated. A direct comparison reveals an amplification of the usually weak spontaneous Stokes emission by up to five orders of magnitude. Further investigation of the optical power dependence reveals the resulting gain to depend on the intensity of both, the input laser fluence and the concentration of the admixed fluorophore, leaving SRS as the only feasible amplification mechanism. While in this study stable large droplets have been studied, the underlying principles also hold true for smaller droplets, in which case significantly lower laser pulse energy is required. Since DPSS lasers are readily available with high repetition rates, the presented detection strategy bears a huge potential for fast online identification and characterization routines in digital microfluidic devices.
Spatiotemporal spectroscopic characterization of plasmas induced by non-orthogonal laser ablation
(2020)
Ablation geometry significantly affects the plasma parameters and the consequent spectroscopic observations in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Nevertheless, plasmas induced by laser ablation under inclined incidence angles are studied to a significantly lesser extent compared to plasmas induced by standard orthogonal ablation. However, inclined ablation is prominent in stand-off applications, such as the Curiosity Mars rover, where the orthogonality of the ablation laser pulse cannot be always secured.
Thus, in this work, we characterize non-orthogonal ablation plasmas by applying plasma imaging, tomography, and spectral measurements. We confirm earlier observations according to which non-orthogonal ablation leads to a laser-induced plasma that consists of two distinct parts: one expanding primarily along the incident laser pulse and one expanding along the normal of the sample surface. Moreover, we confirm that the former emits mainly continuum radiation, while the latter emits mainly sample-specific characteristic radiation. We further investigate and compare the homogeneity of the plasmas and report that inclined ablation affects principally the ionic emissivity of laser-induced plasmas. Overall, our results imply that the decreased fluence resulting from inclined angle ablation and the resulting inhomogeneities of the plasmas must be considered for quantitative LIBS employing non-orthogonal ablation.
Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a bioactive sphingo-lipid with a broad range of activities coupled to its role in G-protein coupled receptor signalling. Monitoring of both intra and extra cellular levels of this lipid is challenging due to its low abundance and lack of robust affinity assays or sensors. We here report on fluorescent sensory core-shell molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) particles responsive to near physiologically relevant levels of S1P and the S1P receptor modulator fingolimod phosphate (FP) in spiked human serum samples. Imprinting was achieved using the tetrabutylammonium (TBA) salt of FP or phosphatidic acid (DPPA·Na) as templates in combination with a polymerizable nitrobenzoxadiazole (NBD)-urea monomer with the dual role of capturing the phospho-anion and signalling its presence. The monomers were grafted from ca 300 nm RAFT-modified silica core particles using ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as crosslinker resulting in 10–20 nm thick shells displaying selective fluorescence response to the targeted lipids S1P and DPPA in aqueous buffered media. Potential use of the sensory particles for monitoring S1P in serum was demonstrated on spiked serum samples, proving a linear range of 18–60 μM and a detection limit of 5.6 μM, a value in the same range as the plasma concentration of the biomarker.
The review mainly deals with two topics that became important in applications of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in recent years: the emission of halogen- and rare-earth-containing molecules and selective excitation of molecules by molecular laser-induced fluorescence (MLIF). The first topic is related to the emission of alkaline-earth diatomic halides MX, M = Ca, Mg, Ba, Sr and X = F, Cl, Br, and I and rare-earth element (REE) oxides LaO, YO, and ScO. These molecules form in laser-induced plasma (LIP) soon after its ignition and persist for a long time, emitting broad bands in a visible part of the spectrum. They are best detected after relatively long delay times when emission from interfering plasma species (atoms and ions) has already been quenched. Such behavior of molecular spectra allows of using, for their detection, inexpensive CCD detectors equipped with simple electronic or mechanical shutters and low-resolution spectrometers. A main target for analysis by molecular spectroscopy is halogens; these elements are difficult to detect by atomic spectroscopy because their most intense atomic lines lie in the vacuum UV. Therefore, in many situations, emission from CaF and CaCl may provide a substantially more sensitive detection of F and Cl than emission from elemental F and Cl and their ions. This proved to be important in mining and concrete industries and even Mars exploration. A similar situation is observed for REEs; their detection by atomic spectroscopy sometimes fails even despite the abundance of atomic and ionic REEs' lines in the UV-VIS. For example, in minerals and rocks with low concentrations of REEs, emission from major and minor mineral elements hinders the weak emission from REEs. Many REEs do not form molecules that show strong emission bands in LIP but can still be detected with the aid of LIP. All REEs except La, Y, and Sc exhibit long-lived luminescence in solid matrices that is easily excited by LIP. The luminescence can be detected simultaneously with molecular emission of species in LIP within the same time and spectral window. The second topic is related to the combination of MLIF and LIBS, which is a technique that was proved to be efficient for analysis of isotopic molecules in LIP. For example, the characteristic spectral signals from isotopic molecules containing 10B and 11B are easier to detect with MLIF-LIBS than with laser ablation molecular isotopic spectrometry (LAMIS) because MLIF provides strong resonance excitation of only targeted isotopes. The technique is also very efficient in detection of halogen molecules although it requires an additional tunable laser that makes the experimental setup bulky and more expensive.
Functional core/shell particles are highly sought after in analytical chemistry, especially in methods suitable for single-particle analysis such as flow cytometry because they allow for facile multiplexed detection of several analytes in a single run. Aiming to develop a powerful bead platform of which the core particle can be doped in a straightforward manner while the shell offers the highest possible sensitivity when functionalized with (bio)chemical binders, polystyrene particles were coated with different kinds of mesoporous silica shells in a convergent growth approach. Mesoporous shells allow us to obtain distinctly higher surface areas in comparison with conventional nonporous shells. While assessing the potential of narrow- as well as wide-pore silicas such as Mobil composition of matter no. 41 (MCM-41) and Santa Barbara amorphous material no. 15 (SBA-15), especially the synthesis of the latter shells that are much more suitable for biomolecule anchoring was optimized by altering the pH and both, the amount and type of the mediator salt. Our studies showed that the best performing material resulted from a synthesis using neutral conditions and MgSO4 as an ionic mediator. The analytical potential of the particles was investigated in flow cytometric DNA assays after their respective functionalization for individual and multiplexed detection of short oligonucleotide strands. These experiments revealed that a two-step modification of the silica surface with amino silane and succinic anhydride prior to coupling of an amino-terminated capture DNA (c-DNA) strand is superior to coupling carboxylic acid-terminated c-DNA to aminated core/shell particles, yielding limits of detection (LOD) down to 5 pM for a hybridization assay, using labeled complementary single-stranded target DNA (t-DNA) 15mers. The potential of the use of the particles in multiplexed analysis was shown with the aid of dye-doped core particles carrying a respective SBA-15 shell. Characteristic genomic sequences of human papillomaviruses (HPV) were chosen as the t-DNA analytes here, since their high relevance as carcinogens and the high number of different pathogens is a relevant model case. The title particles showed a promising performance and allowed us to unequivocally detect the different high- and low-risk HPV types in a single experimental run.
Antibody-gated indicator delivery (gAID) systems based on mesoporous silica nano- and microparticle scaffolds are a promising class of materials for the sensitive chemical detection of small-molecule analytes in simple test formats such as lateral flow assays (LFAs) or microfluidic chips. Their architecture is reminiscent of drug delivery systems, only that reporter molecules instead of drugs are stored in the voids of a porous host particle. In addition, the pores are closed with macromolecular “caps” through a tailored “gatekeeping” recognition chemistry so that the caps are opened when an analyte has reacted with a “gatekeeper”. The subsequent uncapping leads to a release of a large number of indicator molecules, endowing the system with signal amplification features. Particular benefits of such systems are their modularity and adaptability. With the example of the immunochemical detection of type-I pyrethroids by fluorescent dye-releasing gAID systems, the influence of several tuning modes on the optimisation of such hybrid sensory materials is introduced here. In particular, different mesoporous silica supports (from nano- and microparticles to platelets and short fibres), different functionalisation routes and different loading sequences were assessed. The materials’ performances were evaluated by studying their temporal response behaviour and detection sensitivity, including the tightness of pore closure (through the amount of blank release in the absence of analyte) and the release kinetics. Our results indicate that the better the paratope-accommodating Fab region of the antibody “cap” fits into the host material's pore opening, the better the closing/opening mechanism can be controlled. Because such materials are well-suited for LFAs, performance assessment included a test-strip format besides conventional assays in suspension. In combination with dyes as indicators and smartphones for read-out, simple analytical tests for use by untrained personnel directly at a point-of-need such as an aeroplane cabin can be devised, allowing for sensitivities down to the μg kg−1 range in <5 min with case-required selectivities.
Rapid testing methods for the use directly at apointof need are expected to unfold their true potential especiallywhen offering adequate capabilities for the simultaneousmeasurement of multiple analytes of interest. Considering theunique modularity,high sensitivity,and selectivity of antibody-gated indicator delivery (gAID) systems,amultiplexed assayfor three small-molecule explosives (TATP, TNT,PETN) wasthus developed, allowing to detect the analytes simultaneouslywith asingle test strip at lower ppb concentrations in the liquidphase in < 5min using afluorescence reader or asmartphonefor readout. While the TNT and PETN systems were newlydeveloped here,all the three systems also tolerated harshermatrices than buffered aqueous model solutions.Besidesasingle-track strip,the outstanding modularity of the hybridbiosensor materials in combination with strip-patterningtechnologies allowed us to obtain amultichannel strip inastraightforwardmanner,offering comparable analyticalperformance while allowing to be tailored even more to theusersneed.
Remote and on-line measurement of chromium on structural steel surface in nuclear power plants is critical for protection against fluid accelerated corrosion. To improve the insufficient sensitivity of fiber-optic laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy toward trace element detection, a dual-pulse spectral enhancement system is set up. In an iron matrix, for the purpose of improving sensitivity of trace chromium analysis and reducing the self-absorption of iron, the effects of key parameters are investigated. The optimal values of the parameters are found to be: 450 ns inter-pulse delay, 700 ns gate delay, 30 mJ/6 mJ pulse energy ratio, and 19.8 mm lens-to-sample distance (corresponding to a 799 μm laser focused spot size). Compared to the single-pulse system, the shot number of dual-pulse ablation is limited for reducing surface damage. After the optimization of the dual-pulse system, the signal-to-noise ratio of the trace chromium emission line has been improved by 3.5 times in comparison with the single-pulse system, and the self-absorption coefficient of matrix iron has been significantly reduced with self-reversal eliminated. The number of detectable lines for trace elements has more than doubled thus increasing the input for spectral calibration without significantly increasing the ablation mass. Three calibration methods including internal standardization, partial least squares regression and random forest regression are employed to determine the chromium and manganese concentrations in standard samples of low alloy steel, and the limit of detection is respectively calculated as 36 and 515 ppm. The leave-one-out cross validation method is utilized to evaluate the accuracy of chromium quantification, and the concentration mapping of chromium is performed on the surface of a steel sample (16MND5) with a relative error of 0.02 wt.%