Longhua Tang

Multifunctional Janus hematite-silica nanoparticles: mimicking peroxidase-like activity and sensitive colorimetric detection of glucose.

The design and engineering of multifunctional nanostructures with multiple components and synergistic properties are in urgent demand for variety of acceptable biosensing platforms, enabling users to fulfill multiple tasks in a single nanosystem. Herein, we report using an asymmetric hematite-silica hybrid of Janus γ-Fe2O3/SiO2 nanoparticles (JFSNs) as a multifunctional biosensing platform for sensitive colorimetric detection of H2O2 and glucose. It was demonstrated that JFSNs exhibit an intrinsic peroxidase-like catalytic activity. Compared with natural enzyme, JFSNs nanoenzymes could be used over a wider range of pH and temperatures and were more stable over time. Importantly, besides its excellent catalytic activity, the asymmetric properties of the Janus nanoparticle enable it to form the multiple functional utilities for various biosensing applications, including the ease of surface modification without deactivation of catalytic activity and recoverable use by magnetic separation. Thus, we utilized JFSNs with glucose oxidase (GOx) immobilization for glucose-sensitive colorimetric detection, which exhibited both catalytic activity of glucose oxidase and peroxidase with high selectivity and acceptable reproducibility. By combining these two analysis systems into Janus particles, an all-in-one and reusable sensor for blood glucose was formed and has the capability for determination of glucose in complex samples such as serum. These results suggest that such Janus nanosystems have the potential to construct robust nanoarchitecture with multiple functionalities for various biosensing applications.

High-sensitivity optical biosensor based on cascaded Mach–Zehnder interferometer and ring resonator using Vernier effect

We demonstrate an ultrahigh sensitivity silicon photonic biosensor based on cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and ring resonator with the Vernier effect using wavelength interrogation. Experimental results show that the sensitivities reached 2870 nm/RIU and 21,500 nm/RIU for MZI sensor and MZI-ring sensor, respectively. A biosensing application was demonstrated by monitoring the interaction between goat and antigoat immunoglobulin G (IgG) pairs. The measured results show that 1 ng/ml IgG resulted in 0.035 nm and 0.5 nm wavelength shift for MZI sensor and MZI-ring sensor, respectively. This high performance sensor is promising for medical diagnostic applications.

Near-infrared photoluminescence biosensing platform with gold nanorods-over-gallium arsenide nanohorn array

The near-infrared (NIR) optical detection of biomolecules with high sensitivity and reliability have been expected, however, it is still a challenge. In this work, we present a gold nanorods (AuNRs)-over-gallium arsenide nanohorn-like array (GaAs NHA) system that can be used for the ultrasensitive and specific NIR photoluminescence (PL) detection of DNA and proteins. The fabrication of GaAs NHA involved the technique of colloidal lithography and inductively coupled plasma dry etching, yielding large-area and well-defined nanostructural array, and exhibiting an improved PL emission compared to the planar GaAs substrate. Importantly, we found that the DNA-bridged AuNRs attachment on NHA could further improve the PL intensity from GaAs, and thereby provide the basis for the NIR optical sensing of biological analytes. We demonstrated that DNA and thrombin could be sensitively and specifically detected, with the detection limit of 1 pM for target DNA and 10 pM for thrombin. Such ultrasensitive NIR optical platform can extend to the detection of other biomarkers and is promising for clinical diagnostics.

Ultrasensitive Detection of Testosterone Using Microring Resonator with Molecularly Imprinted Polymers

We report ultrasensitive and highly selective detection of testosterone based on microring resonance sensor using molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP). A silicon-on-insulator (SOI) micoring resonator was modified by MIP films (MIPs) on a surface. The MIPs was synthesized by thermopolymerization using methacrylic acid as functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinking agent. The concentration of detected testosterone varies from 0.05 ng/mL to 10 ng/mL. The detection limit reaches 48.7 pg/mL. Ultrahigh sensitivity, good specificity and reproducibility have been demonstrated, indicating the great potential of making a cost effective and easy to operate lab-on-Chip and down scaling micro-fluidics devices in biosensing.

Microfluidics-integrated cascaded double-microring resonators for label-free biosensing

A highly-sensitive optical waveguide biosensor integrated with microfluidic channels based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) was investigated in this paper. Experimental results of the label-free detection exhibits this novel biosensor with the superior reliability for quantitative and kinetic measurement of the interaction between biological molecules, dramatically improving the sensitivity due to the Vernier effect induced by cascaded double-microring resonators.

One-pot synthesis of a DNA-anchored SERS nanoprobe with simultaneous nanostructural tuning and Raman reporter encoding

We report a new simple synthesis method for a DNA-anchored SERS nanoprobe encoded with a Raman reporter by a one-pot overgrowth process, allowing the nanostructure to be controllably tuned to provide improved Raman enhancement, and simultaneously introduce Raman reporters and DNA onto nanoparticles whilst retaining their SERS activity and bio-recognition ability.

Optical waveguide biosensor based on cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometer and ring resonator with Vernier effect

Optical waveguide biosensors based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) have been extensively investigated owing to its various advantages and many potential applications. In this article, we demonstrate a novel highly sensitive biosensor based on cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and ring resonator with the Vernier effect using wavelength interrogation. The experimental results show that the sensitivity reached 1,960 nm/RIU and 19,100 nm/RIU for sensors based on MZI alone and cascaded MZI-ring with Vernier effect, respectively. A biosensing application was also demonstrated by monitoring the interaction between goat and antigoat immunoglobulin G (IgG) pairs. This integrated high sensitivity biosensor has great potential for medical diagnostic applications.

Integrated Raman spectroscopic sensor based on silicon nanowire waveguides

In this article we propose a novel Raman spectroscopic sensor which employs silicon nanowire waveguides for excitation and collection of Raman signal, and an integrated micro-ring resonator as a filter. Preliminary experimental results show that the extinction ratio of the filter including the ring resonator together with the grating coupler is more than 60 dB and the total insertion loss from the laser to the detector is less than 10dB. Theoretical calculations indicate that this high stray light rejection of the filter allows the observation of Raman signal at frequency as low as 4 cm-1 . By employing the evanescent field of the silicon waveguide as excitation and collection of Raman signal, along with the integration of the filter and potentially a tunable semiconductor laser and the detector, a miniaturized Raman spectroscopic sensor can be realized on SOI platform