COLLABORATIVE: Biomimetic Entropic Patterning (BEP) of Nanobiosensors

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

This collaborative research project involves developing sensors for point-of-need testing in food and agricultural applications that can detect regulated pesticides and/or pathogenic bacteria in food or water. Sensors are being developed using computer algorithms to generate patterns of materials on surfaces. The process is reproducible and does not require the use of expensive equipment or significant training, ensuring the widespread availability of the technique. The research project also encourages students from underrepresented groups to pursue research and graduate school via a series of hands-on teaching activities, undergraduate summer research projects, and informal learning activities in the community. In addition, non-expert audiences are exposed to the underlying science and technology of mobile phone-based biosensors as well as the concepts of biomimicry and fractal mathematics. Finally, the sensor platform developed during this research project has many potential applications, including energy storage, biomedical devices, and solar cells. The goal of this research is to develop a new process for patterning micro/nanostructures in biosensing. A new biomimetic entropic patterning technique is proposed to improve signal transduction and durability, particularly under challenging field conditions. The hypothesis is that two-dimensional patterning of nanomaterials leads to optimization of entropy associated with signal transduction. This optimization improves durability, sensitivity, limit of detection, and accuracy of impedimetric and surface plasmon resonance biosensors. The hypothesis has been developed based on the researchers? preliminary exploratory analysis of over 30 patterns for electrochemical sensing, including scale free and non scale-free patterns. For the first time, a correlation between the entropy of patterned nanomaterials and signal transduction is established by testing electrochemical and plasmonic sensors that contain various patterned nanomaterials. The entropy of the pattern is tuned by an in silico two-dimensional model, and techniques such as laser scribing or nanolithography are used to pattern nanomaterials on the sensor surface. This research project will create a multipurpose sensor platform for point of need sensing using mobile phone-based acquisition systems with applications in the areas of ecosystem health and food safety biosensing. To demonstrate the broad applicability of the patterning principle, multiple fabrication techniques are used (laser inscribed graphene, inkjet printing, nanoimprint lithography), and the protocol will be tested by multiple sensor labs with varying skills and equipment through a formal secondary validation process. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.