Letter abstract
Nature Nanotechnology 4, 114 - 120 (2008)
Published online: 14 December 2008 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.369
Subject Categories: Carbon nanotubes and fullerenes | Nanometrology and instrumentation | Nanosensors and other devices
Multimodal optical sensing and analyte specificity using single-walled carbon nanotubes
Daniel A. Heller1, Hong Jin1, Brittany M. Martinez1,6, Dhaval Patel1,6, Brigid M. Miller1, Tsun-Kwan Yeung1,6, Prakrit V. Jena2, Claudia Höbartner3,6, Taekjip Ha2,4,5, Scott K. Silverman3 & Michael S. Strano1
Abstract
Nanoscale sensing elements offer promise for single-molecule analyte detection in physically or biologically constrained environments. Single-walled carbon nanotubes have several advantages when used as optical sensors1, 2, 3, such as photostable near-infrared emission for prolonged detection through biological media2, 4, 5 and single-molecule sensitivity6. Molecular adsorption can be transduced into an optical signal by perturbing the electronic structure of the nanotubes7. Here, we show that a pair of single-walled nanotubes provides at least four modes that can be modulated to uniquely fingerprint agents by the degree to which they alter either the emission band intensity or wavelength. We validate this identification method in vitro by demonstrating the detection of six genotoxic analytes, including chemotherapeutic drugs and reactive oxygen species, which are spectroscopically differentiated into four distinct classes, and also demonstrate single-molecule sensitivity in detecting hydrogen peroxide. Finally, we detect and identify these analytes in real time within live 3T3 cells, demonstrating multiplexed optical detection from a nanoscale biosensor and the first label-free tool to optically discriminate between genotoxins.
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
- Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
- Present address: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, USA (B.M.M.); School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA (D.P.); Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA (T.-K.Y.); Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, 37077 Göttingen, Germany (C.H.)
Correspondence to: Michael S. Strano1 e-mail: strano@mit.edu
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