Lecture
WEB Chemical sensing in active nanocomposites with liquid compartments
Wednesday (23.09.2020) 10:55 - 11:10 P: Processing and Synthesis 1 Part of:Bioinspired materials that react to chemical stimuli with a clear physical response are of high interest in material science. We use emulsions to create materials that mimic basic characteristics of biological membranes for “active nanocomposites” that are useful as sensors. Chemically responsive colloidal dispersions of active particlces inside emulsion droplets provide a measurable signal from the dispersed phase when analyte molecules reach them by diffusion.
Previous work has shown that metal nanoparticles with certain organic shells reversibly agglomerate after stimulation by temperature, ion concentration, electric field strength, surface tension, among others. The resulting agglomeration can change colour, reflectivity, and scattering if the plasmonic interactions between the inorganic cores are modified. Here, we show steps towards embedding gold nanoparticles inside water-in-water emulsion to create a sensor that reacts to specific analytes. We discuss the preparation of the emulsion, its stabilization, embedding in solid gels, and the introduction of chemosensitive particles.
