Developing novel functional laser-induced carbon nanofibers for miniaturized electroanalytical biosensors

• Applicant: Nongnoot Wongkaew, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Analytical Chemistry ; Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 457100614

A growing demand of point-of-need devices (PONs) in clinical diagnostics, food safety, and environmental monitoring has driven this research project towards developing a robust and efficient strategy for miniaturization and integration of functional carbon nanomaterials into electroanalytical devices. Mass-production capability, low material cost together with high analytical performance are the ultimate desired properties of the materials. Electrospinning and laser-induced carbonization/functionalization are of interest to create a variety of functional 3D carbon nanofibers to be integrated in electrochemical devices. The former technology enables integration of highly dispersed functional additives into 3D electrospun nanofiber precursors while the latter offers opportunities to create transducers with superior characteristics, e.g. transfer-free, fully printed, customized designs and roll-to-roll production feasibility. Our previous study has proven that the laser-induced carbon nanofibers (LCNFs) exhibit excellent performance in electroanalytical applications [Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 3674-3680]. Furthermore, nickel nanocatalyst embedded LCNFs can be generated as a high performance transducer for non-enzymatic electrochemical sensing [ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2020, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c08926]. This submitted project aims to 1) explore other possible functionalities that can be incorporated with the LCNFs, e.g. bimetallic nanocatalysts, heteroatoms, and bioreceptors; 2) develop an efficient strategy for integration of (bio)functional LCNFs in PONs based electrochemical (bio)sensors; 3) investigate the electroanalytical performance of the (bio)functional LCNFs in biological fluids. The developments will serve as a robust platform for not only prototyping but also mass-producing that will ultimately facilitate the translation of PON devices with high analytical performance to real-world applications.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants