abstract: Biogenic silica nanostructures, derived from diatoms, possess highly ordered porous hierarchical nanostructures and afford flexibility in design in large part due to the availability of a great variety of shapes, sizes, and symmetries. These advantages have been exploited for study of transport phenomena of ions and molecules towards the goal of developing ultrasensitive and selective filters and biosensors. Diatom frustules give researchers many inspiration and ideas for the design and production of novel nanostructured materials. In this doctoral research will focus on the following three aspects of biogenic silica: 1) Using diatom frustule as protein sensor. 2) Using diatom nanostructures as template to fabricate nano metal materials. 3) Using diatom nanostructures to fabricate hybrid platform. Nanoscale confinement biogenetic silica template-based electrical biosensor assay offers the user the ability to detect and quantify the biomolecules. Diatoms have been demonstrated as part of a sensor. The sensor works on the principle of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. When specific protein biomarkers from a test sample bind to corresponding antibodies conjugated to the surface of the gold surface at the base of each nanowell, a perturbation of electrical double layer occurs resulting in a change in the impedance. Diatoms are also a new source of inspiration for the design and fabrication of nanostructured materials. Template-directed deposition within cylindrical nanopores of a porous membrane represents an attractive and reproducible approach for preparing metal nanopatterns or nanorods of a variety of aspect ratios. The nanopatterns fabricated from diatom have the potential of the metal-enhanced fluorescence to detect dye-conjugated molecules. Another approach presents a platform integrating biogenic silica nanostructures with micromachined silicon substrates in a micro/nano hybrid device. In this study, one can take advantages of the unique properties of a marine diatom that exhibits nanopores on the order of 40 nm in diameter and a hierarchical structure. This device can be used to several applications, such as nano particles separation and detection. This platform is also a good substrate to study cell growth that one can observe the reaction of cell growing on the nanostructure of frustule. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Materials Science and Engineering 2014

<p>Gold nanoparticles exhibit remarkable optical properties and could prove useful in sensitive biosensing applications. Upon illumination gold nanoparticles produce localized surface plasmons, which influence nearby fluorophores and an enhancement in their fluorescence intensity can be observed. This property makes gold nanoparticles attractive for enhancing optical signals.</p><p>In this project gold nanoparticles were functionalized with an antibody and immobilized to the surface of an existing biochip platform based on fluorescence. The aim was to investigate the possibility of obtaining an increased fluorescence signal from the gold nanoparticles. Two different conjugation procedures were investigated, direct physisorption and covalent attachment of the antibodies to the particles. Activity of bound antibodies was confirmed in both cases.</p><p>The on-chip fluorescence intensity produced by the different conjugates was monitored by use a specialized fluorescence reader designed for point-of-care use. AFM and SEM were used to determine the surface concentration of particles. A correlation between the produced fluorescence intensity and the surface concentration could be seen.</p>

Gold nanoparticles exhibit remarkable optical properties and could prove useful in sensitive biosensing applications. Upon illumination gold nanoparticles produce localized surface plasmons, which influence nearby fluorophores and an enhancement in their fluorescence intensity can be observed. This property makes gold nanoparticles attractive for enhancing optical signals. In this project gold nanoparticles were functionalized with an antibody and immobilized to the surface of an existing biochip platform based on fluorescence. The aim was to investigate the possibility of obtaining an increased fluorescence signal from the gold nanoparticles. Two different conjugation procedures were investigated, direct physisorption and covalent attachment of the antibodies to the particles. Activity of bound antibodies was confirmed in both cases. The on-chip fluorescence intensity produced by the different conjugates was monitored by use a specialized fluorescence reader designed for point-of-care use. AFM and SEM were used to determine the surface concentration of particles. A correlation between the produced fluorescence intensity and the surface concentration could be seen.

L’exaltation de fluorescence par un métal est de plus en plus utilisée pour augmenter la sensibilité de détection dans les systèmes utilisant la fluorescence. Au cours de ce travail de thèse, nous avons étudié ce phénomène dans des nanoparticules hybrides Métal@SiO2 possédant des émetteurs de fluorescence immobilisés sur la silice. Dans un premier temps, nous avons élaboré les nanoparticules cœur-coquille Métal@SiO2 (Métal = Au ou Ag) en utilisant différentes méthodes et en les comparant pour choisir la plus adaptée selon le diamètre du cœur métallique. Dans un deuxième temps, nous avons étudié les propriétés de fluorescence exaltée des nanoparticules hybrides. Deux types d’émetteurs de fluorescence ont été sélectionnés : des nanoparticules semi-conductrices (SiC) et des fluorophores organiques (cyanine 3 et fluorescéine). Après fonctionnalisation de la silice, les émetteurs de fluorescence ont été greffés à la surface des nanoparticules Métal@SiO2. L’exaltation de leur fluorescence a été analysée en fonction de leur densité surfacique, de leur distance par rapport au cœur métallique (fixée par l’épaisseur de silice), du diamètre du cœur métallique et de la longueur d’onde d’excitation. Le facteur d’exaltation le plus important (de l’ordre de 103) a été obtenu avec une faible épaisseur de silice (10 nm) pour les nanoparticules de SiC dont le rendement quantique intrinsèque est très faible (inférieur à 1%). Enfin, la surface de nanoparticules hybrides a été fonctionnalisée avec des nanoparticules d’oxyde de fer de manière à obtenir une combinaison de propriétés optiques (fluorescentes et plasmoniques) et magnétiques à l’intérieur d’une même nanoparticule hybride. / For the past decade, metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) has attracted much attention as it improved the sensitivity of fluorescence detection. In this work, MEF was investigated in hybrid Metal@SiO2 nanoparticles with fluorescent emitters immobilized onto silica. In the first part, core-shell Metal@SiO2 (Metal = Au or Ag) nanoparticles were elaborated and several elaboration methods were compared. A comparison was given in order to choose the most suitable method depending on metal core diameter. The second part was dedicated to MEF properties of hybrid nanoparticles. Two kinds of fluorescent emitters were selected: quantum dots (SiC) and organic dyes (cyanine 3 and fluorescein). After silica surface modification, fluorescent emitters were linked to Metal@SiO2 nanoparticles. MEF phenomenon was investigated by tuning the distance between metal and fluorescent emitter (fixed by silica thickness), metal diameter, the fluorescent emitter surface density, and the excitation wavelength. The highest enhancement factor (almost 103) was obtained for a low silica thickness (10 nm) with SiC nanoparticles whose intrinsic quantum yield is very low (lower than 1%). Finally, we functionalized the surface of hybrid nanoparticles with iron oxide nanoparticles to obtain a combination of optical (fluorescence and plasmonics) and magnetic properties inside one hybrid nanoparticle.