The development of real time, label-free biosensors based on ligand-induced nanomechanical responses of microcantilevers (MCs) allows for sensitive and selective detection. High sensitivity is afforded by the MCs small dimensions. Immobilizing biomolecular recognition phases imparts selectivity from bioaffinity interactions. Biological sensors on a MC platform utilize various proteins, such as antibodies and nuclear receptors, which can be used to detect and screen for potential environmental contaminants. The interaction between contaminants and immobilized receptors induces an apparent surface stress that leads to static bending of the MC, which is monitored by an optical beam bending technique. Biofunctionalized MCs can provide high sensitivity and selectivity on a relatively inexpensive platform that requires small amounts of analyte. The goal of this research is to develop and optimize MCs as biosensors to detect low concentrations of contaminants. Initially, the research utilized specific receptors and antibodies to detect and screen for contaminants that are deemed endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Immobilizing estrogen receptors and specific antibodies on the MC surface may provide information on the ever expanding list of EDCs, along with fundamental endocrine studies. Then, the MC surface was morphologically and chemically optimized. This optimization included the thickness and metal ratio of the dealloyed surface. The concentration, reaction time, and pH of chemical immobilization reagents, which include aminoethanethiol and glutaraldehyde, were optimized by using an anti-body test system. Antibody and protein functionalization conditions, which are incubation time and concentration, were optimized using the anti-immunoglobulin G (anti-IgG) receptor: IgG and an anti-biotin:biotin test systems. The optimized immobilization conditions were applied to the detection of thyroid disrupting chemicals (TDCs) using MCs functionalized with the transport protein thyroxine-binding globulin. The final project involved developing a nanomechanical transducer to study xenobiotic and EDC interactions with the bioreceptor PXR’s ligand binding domain (LBD). The combination of immobilized LBD PXR with a nanostructured microcantilever (MC) platform allows for the study of ligand interaction with the receptor’s binding domain. PXR shows real-time, reversible responses when exposed to specific pharmaceutical, EDC, and xenobiotic ligands. Three binding interactions that involve EDCs are tested, which include phthalic acid, nonylphenol, and bisphenol A, with PXR.

In the present era where MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) technology is in¬evitable from the perspective of applications in non-silicon based micro-devices (such as biosensors, microfluidics, microvalves etc.), it is imperative to develop different micro¬fabrication technologies which are simple in operation, have low operational cost and high versatility in terms of incorporating different materials. The microfabrication tech¬nologies (e.g: bulk micromachining, surface micromachining, X-ray LIGA (lithoqraphie galvanoformung abformung) etc.), which exist commercially are mostly limited to sili¬con based technologies. They are either constrained in fabricating complex geometry in micro dimension or have high operational cost. Microstereolithography (MSL) is one such rapid prototyping technique, which can satisfy the above requirements to a larger extent. MSL h8B evolved in the l8Bt decade from conventional stereolithographic (SLA) technique, which involves the free-form microfabrication of a UV sensitive liquid resin layer by layer photo-polymerization process, when it is exposed to UV irradiation accord¬ing to the predefined CAD (Computer Aided Design). However, this technique is not limited to polymer microfabrication and it h8B an immense potential to fabricate com¬plex 3D structures of ceramics in micro dimension. In this thesis, the primary focus is on developing an in house built scanning b8Bed MSL system indigenously and to explore the possibility of micro fabrication of different materials (from polymer to ceramics involving different routes. In addition, polymer micro cantilever h8B been fabricated using this technique and its application to surface stress me8Burement h8B been demonstrated. The thesis comprises of eight chapters. The following section describes the summary of the individual chapters. Chapter 1 describes the introduction and background literature of this technol¬ogy. A brief review on MSL technology developed by various research groups and their achievements h8B been listed. Since photopolymerizable resin is the primary material to fabricate micro dimensional structures, the rate of photopolymerization is an impor¬tant phenomena which requires an attention before choosing the photopolymerizable resin. Further, this chapter also describes the photoinitiation principles and the type of photo initiators (PI) which help to photopolymerize the resin in order to fabricate micro dimensional polymer structures. In addition, this chapter also gives a glimpse of applications of this technology in fabrication of micro cantilever b8Bed sensors. The later part of the chapter focused on the microfabrication of ceramic from colloidal and met¬alorganic routes in brief. In Chapter 2, the design of the in house built MSL system and its working princi¬ples including various optical issues have been addressed. Several research groups have attempted to optimize photopolymerization parameters to incre8Be the throughput of the scanning b8Bed MSL systems through modified beam scanning techniques. Efforts in reducing the curing line width in order to get low feature size have been implemented through high numerical aperture (NA) optical setups. However, the intensity contour symmetry and the depth of field of focus have led to grossly non-vertical and non-uniform curing profiles. The focus of the work h8B been to exploit the rich potential of photoreactor scanning system in achieving desired fabrication modalities (minimum curing width, uniform depth profile, and vertical curing profile) even with a reduced NA optical setup and a single movable stage. The present study tries to manipulate to its advantage the effect of optimized lower photoinitiator (PI) concentration ([c]) in reduc¬ing the minimum curing width to 10-15 jJm, even with the higher spot size (21.4 jJm) rv through a judiciously chosen gmonomer UPIi' system. In this chapter, two different cl8BS of multifunctional acrylates (1,6 Hexane diol diacrylate (HDDA) and Trimethylol propanetriacrylate (TMPTA)) and one monofunctional methacrylate (methyl mathacry¬late (MMA)) have been chosen to explore their fabricability in micro dimensions using this MSL technology, by varying the various operational parameters including the type and the concentration of the PI. Chapter 3 deals with the application of this technology in micro cantilever based sensors. Microcantilever based sensors have been explored for several decades for their application in bio-molecular or explosive detection, chemical sensing etc. Due to the adsorption of molecular species on the cantilever surface, differential surface stress gen¬erates between the top and bottom surface of the cantilever. Depending on the type of stress (tensile or compressive) generated, the cantilever bends accordingly. The, novel diffraction based deflection method has been proposed in order to measure the deflection profile accurately for low dimensional structures. To prove this method, a dual mi¬crocantilever structure with sufficiently low gap (100 f.lm) has been fabricated using the developed MSL set up, such that diffraction occurs during transillumination by spherical wavefronts. Among the two micro cantilevers one was fabricated bent with a specific di¬mension with respect to the other. The cantilever material was chosen as poly HDDA for its low elastic modulus in order to achieve high sensitivity. From the obtained diffraction pattern, the bent profile of the each cross section of one cantilever corresponding to the other has been measured. This proposition will enable to measure surface stress at each cross section of the cantilever depending on the adsorbed analyte molecule adsorption. In Chapter 4, an effort has been made to improve the thermal, thermo mechanical and mechanical properties of the cantilever material (poly HDDA). The sensitivity of a micro cantilever depends precisely on fabrication and material aspects. The former de¬pends on the aspect ratio of the structure and can be controlled by fabrication parameters whereas the latter is inherently limited by the choice of the material. The properties of the material which impact the applicability are elastic modulus, Poisson's ratio, thermal expansion and thermal stability. Hence, these properties are studied for poly HDDA. However, the properties are not completely satisfactory for only poly HDDA (PHDDA) since, PHDDA will fail for high surface stress measurement (>275 mN/m). Hence, it h8B been copolymerized with MMA with an intention to improve the above mentioned properties and to determine the best composition for the micro cantilever application. It is observed by Finite Element Analysis (FEM) that Phpm5050 (HDDA:MMA(50:50)) composition shows optimum sensitivity when reliability is concerned for me8Buring high surface stress (275 mN/m). Chapter 5 bridges Chapter 2 and Chapter 6. Chapter 2 highlights the polymer mi¬crofabrication where8B, Chapter 6 deals with the microfabrication of ceramics. In order to fabricate ceramic micro objects by MSL, ceramic particles need to be blended with a photopolymerizable monomer followed by l8Ber induced photopolymerization . Under l8Ber irradiation, the monomer gets cured and traps the ceramic particles. Thus near net shape of green ceramic structures are 0 btained. After achieving the near net shape, it is important to remove the polymer, which acts 8B the binder for the green ceramic body. This debinding should be diffusion controlled so 8B to achieve defect free micro ceramics. Here two multifunctional monomers (HDDA and TMPTA) have been chosen 8B a b8Be monomer for fabricating ceramics. Therefore it is essential to understand the debinding mechanism of these polymers. However, (HDDA) h8B high shrinkage upon polymeriza¬tion with low rate of polymerization kinetics and low viscosity where8B the properties of (TMPTA) are exactly opposite. Hence, in order to optimize these properties, copoly¬merization of HDDA and TMPTA h8B been carried out for different compositions and their thermal properties have been investigated to understand the degradation mech¬anism. This chapter deals with the mechanism of thermal degradation by model free kinetic methods with an intention to determine the optimum composition of HDDA and TMPTA copolymer, to used 8B the b8Be monomer material for ceramic microfabrication. Besides, the debinding strategy is also discussed b8Bed on the degradation profile of the optimum composition. TH20S0(TMPTA: HDDA(20:S0)) is found to be the ideal com¬position to fabricate ceramic micro-component by MSL since its degradation is diffusion controlled in N 2 atmosphere. Chapter 6 describes the methodology of microfabrication of ceramics by the de-veloped MSL technique. A colloidal approach has been adopted to fabricate ceramics in micro-dimensions. Two different ceramics have been chosen, which have potential applications in structural (alumina) and functional (Lead Iron Niobate (PFN))aspects. Before fabricating ceramic micro-objects, ceramic particles need to be blended in the monomer suspension in the presence of dispersant at an optimum solids loading. Opti¬mization of solids loading is important in view of low dimensional shrinkage after sin¬tering. However, lower loading leads to higher shrinkage whereas higher loading would increase the viscosity of the suspension and make the suspension inconvenient to deal with. Hence, rheological studies have been carried out to optimize the solids loading and dispersant concentration. 40 vol% alumina and 35 vol% PFN are found to be the highest achievable solids loading for the chosen monomer (TH2080) composition. This chapter also describes the limitation involved in ceramic microfabrication depending on their scattering factors during laser irradiation. The chapter demonstrates the fabrica¬tion methodology of several complex ceramic(alumina and PFN) micro-objects by the in house built MSL instrument. Chapter 7 investigates the possibility of microfabrication of ceramics from metalor¬ganic precursor. In this route, titanium metal-organic (Ti-n butoxide) precursor has been chosen which is stabilized by the addition of chelating monomer (2-( methacryloyloxy) ethyl acetoacetate). Following this, the crosslinker and photoinitiators have been added to form Ti photoresist which is coated on top of the bare silicon substrate by spin coating to achieve specific thickness. The coated silicon wafer by the above photoresist has been patterned by selectively exposure in the MSL setup. The cured patterns are washed and heat treated at high temperature in order to 0 btain the net shape of the Ti02 pattern of polycrystalline rutile phase. It is observed this route is advantageous in terms of reduc¬ing curing dimension (curing width 14 f.lm) than the colloidal route (curing width more than 80 f.lm ) of fabrication of ceramics where the scattering factor greatly influences the dimensions of the feature size. The key findings and future aspects are summarized in the Chapter 8. The work reported in this thesis has been carried out by the candidate as part of the Ph.D. programme. He hopes that this would constitute a worthwhile contribution towards developing an MSL technique and its aspects in micro fabrication of polymer and ceramic structures of any complex shape and its possible applications in microdevices.

Thermal, electrical, and mechanical characteristics of heated cantilevers were experimentally studied in various conditions. Experiments investigated thermal, mechanical, and coupled behaviors of the heated cantilevers under DC, AC, and transient electrical heating. Raman spectroscopy measured local temperature and qualitative intrinsic stress with high spatial resolution. Based on the thorough understanding from device characterization, cantilever type micro hotplates and small array of heated cantilevers with integrated piezoresistive sensors were fabricated and characterized. Well characterized cantilever sensors were applied to heat transfer study and microfludic research. Heated microcantilevers were suggested to study sub-continuum heat transfer from a micro heater to ambient gas environment in a wide range of pressure. Microcantilever sensors were employed to study the free microjets emanated from microfabricated nozzles. Piezoresistive cantilevers measured jet thrust, velocity, and break-up distance of the liquid microjets and heated cantilevers investigated heat transfer characteristics and phase change phenomena during the microjet impingement.

No description available.

Afin d'optimiser l'utilisation des micropoutres en tant que capteurs chimiques, de nouvelles couches sensibles à base de matériaux microporeux ont été testées pour la détection d'humidité, de toluène et d'éthanol. Des essais sans couches sensibles ont aussi été effectués et des modèles simples ont été mis au point afin de prédire la réponse des micropoutres lors d'un changement d'environnement. Ces études ont donc permis la mise en oeuvre des micropoutres selon deux principes de détections différents: l'un reposant sur la variation de masse du capteur à base de micropoutre lors de l'absorption de composé par une couche sensible; l'autre reposant sur la détection de changements de propriétés physiques du fluide environnant. / In order to optimize the use of microcantilever in the way of chemical sensing, microporous sensitive coatings have been tried to detect ethanol, toluene and humidity. The use of microcantilever without sensitive coating have been performed and simple models has been made and permit to predict the response of microcantilever in different environments. These studies rely on the use of microcantilever within two different detection mode: the detection of mass variation of the sensor because of the sorption of species in sensitive coating; and the detection of the change of physical properties of the fluid.

Les systèmes multi-capteurs intelligents de gaz (ou nez électroniques), sont déjà déployés dans des domaines aussi divers que la parfumerie, l'industrie alimentaire, la surveillance de l'environnement et à des fins militaires et médicaux. La collaboration engagée dans le cadre du Projet Européen SNIFFER, s'est focalisée sur le développement d'un système type nez-électronique innovant basé sur des capteurs MEMS combinés à des bio-récepteurs olfactifs pour la détection de substances illicites. Dans un autre contexte et ce, dans une démarche interne à ESIEE-Paris, nous avons aussi choisi d'élargir le sujet à la conception d'un système multi-capteurs pour une application en détection de composés organiques volatils.Ainsi, dans la perspective d'une amélioration des technologies par l'utilisation de capteurs MEMS, cette thèse traite de la conception, la fabrication et la caractérisation de capteurs de type micro-poutre résonante en silicium et en diamant et également de la preuve de concept d'un système multi-capteur pour la détection de gaz. Si le choix du silicium en tant que matériaux pour la fabrication de nos capteurs a pour avantage l'énorme éventail de connaissances disponible, le diamant fait sa place dans le monde de la microtechnologie grâce à ses remarquables propriétés physiques et chimiques. Même si certaines études portant sur le développement de dispositifs et de procédés MEMS en diamant sont décrites dans la littérature, une comparaison entre les performances des deux matériaux pour le développement d'un même capteur n'a jamais été étudiée. En conséquence, cette thèse est axée sur l'utilisation de ces deux matériaux pour la conception de micro-poutres résonantes, afin d'établir des éléments de comparaison pour les deux technologies.Dans un premier temps, nous avons mis en place des procédés de micro-structuration du diamant développés auparavant dans notre laboratoire afin de les optimiser pour une fabrication totalement compatible avec les techniques de salle blanche et indépendante des variations des conditions de synthèse du diamant. Nous avons, pour la première fois, réalisé des micro-poutres en diamant avec des jauges en silicium polycristallin intégrées. Nous avons caractérisé le module d'Young du diamant en utilisant deux méthodes différentes aboutissant dans le cas le plus précis à la valeur de 1080 GPa. Ensuite, la sensibilité massique des poutres en silicium et en diamant fabriquées a été évaluée. Dans le meilleur des cas, et pour des fréquences de résonance très proches, les poutres en silicium présentent une sensibilité de 89 Hz/ng tandis que pour les poutres en diamant, la sensibilité s'élève à 212 Hz/ng. Nous avons également observé que pour des faibles variations de masse, l'impact de l'ajout de masse sur le coefficient de qualité des poutres était plus critique pour les structures en silicium.Finalement, une preuve de concept de l'utilisation du système multi-capteur à base de micro-poutres en silicium et en diamant pour la détection de composés organiques volatils a été mise en place. Nous avons démontré la détection de plusieurs composés dans des concentrations de l'ordre de la dizaine de ppm de manière totalement automatique et sans recours à des instruments de mesure. Les résultats de ces détections forment une base de données à partir de laquelle nous avons, par l'application de méthodes statistiques multivariées, abouti à la discrimination des composés testés / Smart multi-sensor systems for gas detection (or electronic noses), are already deployed in areas as diverse as cosmetics and food industry, environment monitoring and military and medical purposes. The ongoing collaboration within the European SNIFFER Project, focused on the development of an innovative electronic nose-like system based on MEMS sensors combined with olfactory bioreceptors for the detection of illicit substances. In another context and, within an internal approach to ESIEE-Paris, we have also chosen to expand the topic to design a multi-sensor system for application in volatile organic compounds detection.Thus, in view of improving these technologies through the use of MEMS sensors, this manuscript comprehensively investigates the design, fabrication and characterization of silicon and diamond resonant micro-cantilevers sensors, and also presents a proof of concept of a multi-sensor system for gas detection. To date, silicon has been used as a building block of micro sensors, whose features are very well known and argued extensively in the literature. On the other hand, diamond as a unique material in terms of its superior physical and chemical properties, has been received attention in microelectronics. Although the realization of diamond MEMS sensors has been presented before, it has been never compared to silicon MEMS gas sensors. Therefore, to establish elements of comparison for the two technologies, this thesis aimed to use these two competitive materials as a building block of micro-cantilever based MEMS gas sensors.Firstly, we set up specific micro-machining processes for the realization of diamond patterns that have been previously developed in our laboratory in order to optimize them for a fully clean room compatible manufacturing, independent of changes in diamond synthesis conditions. We have, for the first time, realized diamond micro-cantilevers with integrated polysilicon gauges. The Young's modulus of diamond was characterized using two different methods resulting in the best case of the value as 1080 GPa. Then, the mass sensitivity of silicon and diamond microcantilevers was evaluated. In the best case, for sensors presenting very similar resonant frequencies, the silicon microcantilever have a sensitivity of 89 Hz / ng whereas for the diamond microcantilever, the sensitivity is 212 Hz / ng. It has been also observed that the impact of adding mass on the beam quality factor was more critical to the silicon structures for low mass load cases.Finally, a proof of concept for the use of the multi-sensor system based on silicon and diamond micro-cantilevers for the detection of volatile organic compounds was established. We demonstrated the detection of several compounds in concentrations of the order of tens of ppm in a fully automatic way and without the use of measuring instruments. The results of these detections form a database from which we resulted in the discrimination of the compounds tested by applying multivariate statistical methods

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Pablo Alejandro Fiorito / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência e Tecnologia/Química, 2015. / Nos últimos anos, houve uma grande expansão na busca e desenvolvimento de novos dispositivos voltados para a área de biossensores. Tendo em vista esta grande demanda relacionada ao desenvolvimento de novos dispositivos para detecção de determinadas biomoléculas, como ácidos desoxirribonucleicos (DNA), este trabalho descreve o desenvolvimento de um método para modificação química reversível de superfícies de microcantilevers que são aplicados em estudos de biossensores nanomecânicos. Dessa maneira, para a elaboração desta metodologia foi utilizado o conceito de Click Chemistry aliado à atividade redox de compostos de telúrio junto a grupos tióis, grupo este, que está presente em muitas biomoléculas aplicadas em processos de detecção em biossensores. A parte inicial deste trabalho consistiu na síntese de teluretos bis-arílicos não simétricos, no qual foi possível obter um rendimento isolado para o telureto de 3-nitrofenil 4-metoxifenila de 90%. Após a obtenção deste composto, foram realizadas mais duas etapas de síntese para obtenção do ácido 4-((3-((4-metoxifenil)teluro)fenil)amino)-4-oxobutanóico sendo obtido um rendimento isolado de 60%. Este derivado de telúrio foi imobilizado sobre a superfície de microcantilevers sendo possível verificar a sua atividade redox junto à biomoléculas tioladas de DNA. Paralelamente foi realizado um estudo de viabilidade para troca de biomoléculas que atuam como "receptores" no processo de detecção da fita complementária de DNA. Este resultado se torna relevante, pois possibilita realizar a troca do sistema de detecção a partir da regeneração da superfície além de demonstrar a eficácia da proposta deste trabalho. / In recent years, it has been a great expansion in the search and development of new devices focused on biosensors area. In view of this high demand related to the development of new devices for the detection of certain biomolecules, like deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) ones, this work describes the development of method for reversible chemical modification of surfaces of microcantilevers are used in biosensors nanomechanical studies. Thus, for the preparation of this methodology it was used the concept of Click Chemistry together with the redox activity of tellurium compounds with thiol groups, which is present in many biomolecules applied to detection processes in biosensors. The initial part of this work involved the synthesis of unsymmetrical diaryl tellurides, in which it was possible to obtain an isolated yield for the telluride of 3-nitrophenyl 4- (4-methoxyphenyl)(3-nitrophenyl)tellane of 90%. After obtaining this compound two more synthesis steps for obtaining acid 4 - ((3 - ((4-methoxyphenyl) teluro) phenyl) amino) -4-oxobutanoic acid were performed being obtained an isolated yield of 60%. The tellurium derivative was immobilized on the surface of microcantilevers being possible to verify its redox activity by biomolecules (DNA) with thiol groups. At the same time it carried out a feasibility study to exchange of biomolecules that act as "receptors" in the detection process of complementary DNA. This result is significant because it enables performing the exchange of the detection system from the surface of regeneration besides demonstrating the effectiveness of this proposal work.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:02:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4784.pdf: 6177335 bytes, checksum: d4efe41cda16378eef382581c4b2c468 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-31 / Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais / The great interest to develop microcantilevers sensors is due to several desirable properties, in particular the ability to adjust the size and structure, thus increasing the perspectives for the construction of new sensor systems. In this work, we developed functionalized microcantilever sensors with conducting polymers to detect relative humidity, volatile organic compounds and insect pheromones. The development was based on a systematic investigation, since the polymer synthesis and the film formation until the sensing step. For this purpose, we studied two treatments to clean the microcantilevers surfaces (plasma and piranha solution). Also, appropriate ways for the sensors functionalization were evaluated, using spin-coating and thermoelastic probe techniques. The polyaniline solutions were obtained by the in-situ and interfacial synthesis. This way, the doping, morphology and the polymer structure have been investigated by the AFM, UV-Vis, FTIR, diffraction and FE-SEM techniques, and likewise the film properties. It allowed us to optimize the preparation conditions of the polyaniline films on the surface of the microcantilevers sensors to detect relative humidity and volatiles. Also, it was possible to develop sensors with polyaniline thin films, capable to detect 1 ppmv of relative humidity, and this shows that they can be used to measure large limits of detection. Moreover, the functionalized microcantilevers sensors showed a fast response time, repeatability over several cycles and exhibited lifetime longer than 6 months. The coated microcantilevers sensors showed an excellent response to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs), indicating that the sensitive layer was xiv appropriate for detection of these volatiles. The sensitivity of these sensors at VOCs increased with the polarity, thus the methanol compound showed the greatest sensitivity. It was possible to detect and evaluate different concentrations of the pheromone 2-heptanone, at different temperatures. The microcantilever sensors response not only showed an excellent sensitivity, but also a fast response time. It was observed an excellent response to deflection of the microcantilever sensors when exposed to volatile during the banana ripeness. / O grande interesse em desenvolver sensores de microcantilevers é devido às várias propriedades desejáveis, em particular a capacidade de adaptar o tamanho e a estrutura, aumentando, dessa forma, as perspectivas para a construção de novos sistemas de sensoriamento. Neste trabalho foram desenvolvidos nanossensores de microcantilever funcionalizados com polianilina, no estado de oxidação esmeraldina, para detecção de umidade relativa, de compostos orgânicos voláteis e, potenciais aplicações para detecção de feromônios de insetos e no amadurecimento de frutas. Para isso, o desenvolvimento se baseou em uma investigação sistemática, desde a síntese do polímero e a formação de filmes até a etapa de sensoriamento. Para tal, foram estudados dois tratamentos de limpeza das superfícies dos microcantilevers, o plasma e a solução piranha . Também foram avaliadas maneiras adequadas para a funcionalização dos sensores, empregando as técnicas de spin-coating, in-situ e sonda termoelástica à partir de soluções de polianilina obtidas pelas sínteses interfacial e in-situ, para a deposição de um filme fino em somente um lado da superfície do microcantilever. Dessa forma, a dopagem, cristalinidade e estrutura do polímero foram investigadas por meio das técnicas de UV-Vis, FTIR, difratometria e FE-MEV e, por conseguinte, as propriedades dos filmes. Estes estudos permitiram aperfeiçoar as condições de preparação dos filmes de polianilina sobre a superfície dos sensores de microcantilevers, para detecção de umidade relativa (%) e compostos orgânicos voláteis (COVs). Foi possível desenvolver sensores com filmes finos de polianilina, capazes de detectar umidade relativa até 1 ppmv, indicando, portanto, que os sensores xii desenvolvidos podem ser usados para medir grandes limites de detecção. Além disso, os sensores de microcantilevers funcionalizados apresentaram um tempo de resposta rápido, foram repetitivos a vários ciclos e apresentaram uma durabilidade maior que 6 meses. Os sensores de microcantilevers funcionalizados apresentaram uma excelente reposta aos COVs, indicando que a camada sensitiva foi adequada para detecção desses voláteis. A sensitividade dos sensores de microcantilever funcionalizados aos COVs aumentou com o aumento da polaridade do volátil, assim o composto que apresentou maior sensitividade foi o metanol. Foi possível avaliar e detectar diferentes concentrações do feromônio 2- heptanona em diferentes temperaturas. Os sensores mostraram uma excelente sensitividade e um tempo de resposta rápido. Foi observada uma excelente resposta de deflexão dos sensores de microcantilever quando expostos aos voláteis, durante o amadurecimento da banana.

Le développement d’un système de détection sensible, sélectif, rapide, fiable et portable à coût modéré est devenu une nécessité pour prévenir le risque chimique lors d’attaques operationnelles ou terroristes potentielles. Ainsi, ce projet porte sur l’élaboration d’un capteur pour la détection d’agents chimiques de guerre de type organophosphorés (Sarin, Tabun, Soman, VX). L’utilisation de microleviers comme capteur pour augmenter la sensibilité est une méthode prometteuse. La surface faible des microleviers conventionnels limite, la sensibilité de la méthode. Ainsi, pour augmenter la surface de capture, nous avons crée un réseau de nanotubes de TiO2 verticalement alignés. Cette nanostructuration est réalisée par une anodisation électrochimique d’une couche de titane pour obtenir les nanotubes de TiO2. L’influence des paramètres du dépôt de titane et de l’anodisation a été optimisée sur des surfaces modèles puis les conditions ont été transferées sur les microleviers. Afin d’augmenter la sélectivité des capteurs (mais aussi la sensibilité) une fonctionnalisation a été réalisée avec une famille originale de ligands bifonctionnels capables de promouvoir la reconnaissance moléculaire des composés organophosphorés cibles et adaptés à la liaison avec une surface de TiO2. / The development of a sensitive, selective, fast, reliable, and moderate cost portable detection system has become a necessity to prevent chemical risk during operational or terrorist attacks. Thus, this project is focused on the elaboration of sensor for the detection of chemical warfare agents (Sarin, Tabun, Soman, VX). The use of microcantilevers as sensors is a promising method to increase sensitivity of detection. The low surface area of conventional microcantilevers limits the sensitivity of the method. Thus, to increase the surface of capture, we create a nanotubular titanium oxide structures. This nanostructuration is performed by anodization of titanium layer to obtain titania nanotubes. The influence of Ti deposition and anodization parameters was studied and the synthesis was optimized onto model surfaces, then beeing transferred to the microcantilevers. In order to increase the selectivity (but also sensitivity) of the sensors functionalization has been carried out with an original family of bifunctional ligands able to promote the molecular recognition of target organophosphorus compounds and suitable for the binding with a TiO2 surface.

Primary water stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of metals in pressurized water reactors (PWRs) is known to be one of the most challenging and cost intensive modes of failure in the nuclear industry. Even though it is known that cracking in Ni-base alloys proceeds mainly intergranular (IG), the initiation and propagation of cracks in ductile metals are not yet understood and a much-desired accurate prediction of SCC related failure seems unobtainable. In this thesis, a combination of microcantilever fracture experiments, scanning electron- (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques was employed to study and compare the failure of oxidized grain boundaries of Ni-base Alloy 600 with high and low intergranular carbide coverage and different sample history. A new technique for lifting-out whole cantilevers after testing and for performing 3D focussed ion beam sequencing (3D FIB-SEM) while preserving a thin central region of the cantilever for further TEM sample preparation was developed and is presented. In lieu with recent efforts of the main project sponsor Électricité de France (EDF) to build a predictive model for IGSCC based on localized/microscopic information, one of the main objectives was the extraction of the stress at failure of individual oxidized GBs. Supported by finite element simulations, microcantilever fracture tests revealed that surface oxides on top of individual GBs have the capability to alter the mechanical response by delaying/suppressing the onset of failure. An overestimation of the failure stress (> 230 MPa) was observed, proving that the presence of the surface oxide on top of the test structures cannot be neglected. The failure stress on both samples, tested without influence of the surface oxide, was found to cover a range of 300 - 600 MPa, which agreed well with finite element simulations of the tests and further demonstrates the reliability of the obtained data. The second objective was to gain a better understanding of the observed fracture behaviour and the role of local microstructure. Using the gathered microscopy data, it was found that the crack clearly favours a progression along the IG oxide-metal interface in the presence of carbide precipitates. Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) revealed that the observed crack path can be linked to compositional and density variations of the IG oxide. In the presence of carbides the oxide was layered. An oxide close to the stoichiometry of chromia was located at the original GB and next to the carbides. Next to this Cr-rich oxide, Fe-rich mixed spinel oxides of varying composition and density were found. An explanation for density variations based on the possible formation of defective spinel oxides of the type A²⁺B³⁺₂O₄, due to an unavailability of certain cation species is presented. No clear interface preference was observed in the absence of precipitation, where the IG oxide was found to be thin and often incomplete with Cr-richer oxides preferentially located at the original GB. While these observations were consistent on both samples (high and low carbide coverage), bigger void-like defects were located at the Fe-richer oxide-metal interface of the cold worked sample with high IG carbide precipitation only. These weak spots seemed to be the preferred path for crack propagation on this sample. The sample with low intergranular carbide coverage showed no obvious porosities at this interface but a Cr- depleted region was seen. Introducing a multi-faceted investigation strategy, supported by finite element simulations, the presented thesis provides the most accurate determination of the failure stress of oxidized GBs on Alloy 600 to date and and adds new valuable insights to our understanding of IGSCC and the future prediction of SCC related failures.