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Label-free identification of single dielectric nanoparticles and viruses with ultraweak polarization forces

Nature Materials volume 11, pages 808–816 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Label-free detection of the material composition of nanoparticles could be enabled by the quantification of the nanoparticles’ inherent dielectric response to an applied electric field. However, the sensitivity of dielectric nanoscale objects to geometric and non-local effects makes the dielectric response extremely weak. Here we show that electrostatic force microscopy with sub-piconewton resolution can resolve the dielectric constants of single dielectric nanoparticles without the need for any reference material, as well as distinguish nanoparticles that have an identical surface but different inner composition. We unambiguously identified unlabelled ~10 nm nanoparticles of similar morphology but different low-polarizable materials, and discriminated empty from DNA-containing virus capsids. Our approach should make the in situ characterization of nanoscale dielectrics and biological macromolecules possible.

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Figure 1: Dielectric constant measurement and material identification of individual dielectric nanoparticles in multiple experiments.
Figure 2: Effect of geometrical parameters. Tip radius and nanoparticle diameter as a function of the dielectric constants obtained in multiple experiments with PS (blue), SiO2 (green) and Al2O3 (red) nanoparticles.
Figure 3: Material identification of multi-component mixtures of dielectric nanoparticles.
Figure 4: Dielectric constant measurement and material identification of the bacteriophage T7 virus and capsid.
Figure 5: Measured dielectric constants of DNA-containing viruses and capsids, and discrimination of their inner composition.
Figure 6: Estimation of the dielectric constant of condensed DNA in the bacteriophage T7 using a core–shell model.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Nanotec Electronica for technical assistance, G. Gramse, M. A. Edwards and E. Torrents for discussions, and D. Normanno for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the Spanish MEC under grants TEC2010-16844 and BFU2011-29038-C02-1, by the Comunidad de Madrid grant S-2009/MAT-1507, and by the EU commission under grant FP7-NMP 228685-2. G.G. acknowledges support from a grant of the Spanish–Catalan I3 Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC), c/ Baldiri i Reixac 15-21, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

    Laura Fumagalli, Daniel Esteban-Ferrer & Gabriel Gomila

  2. Departament d’Electrònica, Universitat de Barcelona, c/ Martı´ i Franquès 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

    Laura Fumagalli & Gabriel Gomila

  3. Department of Structure of Macromolecules, Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia, CNB-CSIC, Campus Cantoblanco, c/Darwin 3, 28049 Madrid, Spain

    Ana Cuervo & Jose L. Carrascosa

  4. Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados en Nanociencia (IMDEA Nanociencia), Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain

    Jose L. Carrascosa

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  1. Laura Fumagalli
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Contributions

L.F. did the experiments, performed the data analysis and wrote the paper. G.G. did the theoretical modelling and helped write the paper. D.E-F. implemented the finite-element calculations. A.C. prepared the viruses and performed electron microscopy and composition analysis of them. L.F. and G.G. designed the study with J.L.C. All the authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Laura Fumagalli.

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Fumagalli, L., Esteban-Ferrer, D., Cuervo, A. et al. Label-free identification of single dielectric nanoparticles and viruses with ultraweak polarization forces. Nature Mater 11, 808–816 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3369

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