Fabrication of SERS sensing platforms by 3D printing and their application for the determination of metabolites in biological fluids

• Grant number: 24/22105-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: February 01, 2025
• End date: October 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Analytical Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Javier Erick Lobatón Villa
• Grantee: Tatiana Aparecida de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química (IQ). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 24/09412-4 - Ultrasensitive spectrochemical sensors allied to chemometrics: multivariate investigation of metabolic profiles of biological fluids using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, AP.R

Abstract

Since the discovery of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), it has shown great potential for use in trace analysis due to its high sensitivity. However, the difficulty in manufacturing efficient and low-cost SERS substrates is one of the major limitations to making SERS a well-established technique. In this doctoral thesis, automated methods for the fabrication of SERS substrates using 3D printing technology will be developed. For this purpose, gold nanoparticles will be synthesized and incorporated into a photopolymerizable resin, which will allow the direct printing of plasmonic materials. Stability studies of the nanoparticles will be performed considering their interaction with monomers, polymers, surfactants, and photoinitiators, which will be the main components of the photopolymerizable resin. The optimization of the SERS response of the substrates obtained by 3D printing will be done by evaluating the sensitivity, repeatability, and stability of the material. Finally, the active surfaces of the substrates will be modified and used for the detection of metabolites in synthetic and real biological fluid samples to demonstrate the applicability of SERS sensors in complex matrices.