Multifunctional naniocomposite sensors for Volatile Organic Compounds detection

Programme

Ernst Mach Mobility Grant

Project coordination

Danube Private University, Ass. Prof. Dr. Juan Allegtretto

Researchers involved

• Dr. Santiago Poklepovich Caride

Abstract

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) are among the most significant pollutants hazardous to human health and, at the same time, of relevance for different fields including organoleptic profiling (aroma analysis) and early detection of diseases, such as  lung cancer. The wide range of species involved in these fields requires a powerful and versatile tool to detect them. The combination of different nanomaterials to fabricate sensors targeting VOC is of great interest to the scientific community. By harnessing the unique properties of each material, researchers can develop applications that leverage the materials’ synergistic effects. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are particularly promising due to their straightforward synthesis and a range of remarkable properties, including exceptionally large surface areas, tunable pore sizes and shapes, and chemical versatility. When combined with other materials, MOFs can form multifunctional composites with diverse applications in catalysis, sensing, and more. Another type of porous materials such as Mesoporous oxides (e.g., SiO2, TiO2) are also versatile platforms which offer attractive properties such as pores in the meso range (2-50 nm, higher than intrinsic MOF microporosity), high specific surface area, stability, and ease of functionalization. In addition, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) can provide these materials with plasmonic features, enabling their application in e.g., Surface-Enhance Raman Spectroscopy (SERS)-based sensors, which have been proposed and demonstrated as suitable for VOC detection and quantification. 

The goal of this project is to build and characterize a composite sensing platform by combining and harnessing the properties of MOFs, mesoporous oxides, and AuNPs, towards the capture and detection of VOC by means of SERS.