Nano-DETECHIP

Research within the Center for Nanohybrid Materials (CNFM)
(link to http://cnfm.unl.edu/), Dr. Holmes
emphasizes designing and creating functionalized nanostructured thin films for new sensing and separation applications. Nanostructured thin films that have sensing materials attached to their surface are called nanohybrid functional materials. GLAD (Glancing Angle Deposition) has been used to build sculptured thin films from different materials (such as Si, Co, Ti, Pt) with a variety of nanostructures geometries (slanted columns, spirals, posts). Anisotropic dielectric functions were measured by ellipsometry. This fabrication of nanostructures and spectroscopic expertise in ellipsometry lays the foundation for using polarized light as a sensing tool. The functionalization of the 3D nanostructures with biosensors is referred to as hybridization. Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) was used to determine if a modification of a nanostructured surface occurred. Analyte attachment to the hybridized surface of 3D nanostructures was measured optically due to anisotropic polarization across the nano-columns which caused strong THz birefringence variation. A provisional patent application 12/289,524 was filed on 13-MAR-2012 on “Optical Sensing and Separation Method Based on Ordered 3-Dimensional Nanostructured Surfaces.”