Strong coupling between plasmonic nanocavity gold nanorods and quantum dots emitter.

The discovery of hybrid states in strong coupling interaction has gained growing attention in cavity-quantum electrodynamics research owing to its fundamental directives and potential in advanced optical applications. The ultra-confined mode volume of plasmonic cavity gold nanorods (AuNRs), particularly at the nanorod tip "hotspot" provides a large coupling strength, a prerequisite for a coherent energy exchange in the strong coupling regime. Here, we reported a remarkable Rabi splitting of ∼231 meV between gold nanorods longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance (LLSPR) mode and quantum dots (QDs) at ambient conditions, monitored by dielectric medium tuning. Numerical simulations confirmed the result, displaying absorption spectral splitting.

Surface Topography Steer Soft Tissue Response and Antibacterial Function at the Transmucosal Region of Titanium Implant.

Metallic dental implants have been extensively used in clinical practice due to their superior mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and aesthetic outcomes. However, their integration with the surrounding soft tissue at the mucosal region remains challenging and can cause implant failure due to the peri-implant immune microenvironment. The soft tissue integration of dental implants can be ameliorated through different surface modifications. This review discussed and summarized the current knowledge of topography-mediated immune response and topography-mediated antibacterial activity in Ti dental implants which enhance soft tissue integration and their clinical performance. For example, nanopillar-like topographies such as spinules, and spikes showed effective antibacterial activity in human salivary biofilm which was due to the lethal stretching of bacterial membrane between the nanopillars. The key findings of this review were (I) cross-talk between surface nanotopography and soft tissue integration in which the surface nanotopography can guide the perpendicular orientation of collagen fibers into connective tissue which leads to the stability of soft tissue, (II) nanotubular array could shift the macrophage phenotype from pro-inflammatory (M1) to anti-inflammatory (M2) and manipulate the balance of osteogenesis/osteoclasia, and (III) surface nanotopography can provide specific sites for the loading of antibacterial agents and metallic nanoparticles of clinical interest functionalizing the implant surface. Silver-containing nanotubular topography significantly decreased the formation of fibrous encapsulation in per-implant soft tissue and showed synergistic antifungal and antibacterial properties. Although the Ti implants with surface nanotopography have shown promising in targeting soft tissue healing in vitro and in vivo through their immunomodulatory and antibacterial properties, however, long-term in vivo studies need to be conducted particularly in osteoporotic, and diabetic patients to ensure their desired performance with immunomodulatory and antibacterial properties. The optimization of product development is another challenging issue for its clinical translation, as the dental implant with surface nanotopography must endure implantation and operation inside the dental microenvironment. Finally, the sustainable release of metallic nanoparticles could be challenging to reduce cytotoxicity while augmenting the therapeutic effects.

Colloidal surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic study of grouper epidermal mucus using acidified sodium sulphate as the aggregating agent.

Fish epidermal mucus is an important reservoir of antipathogenic compounds which serves as the first line of the immune defence. Despite its significant role in the physiology and health of fish, detailed profiling of fish epidermal mucus has yet to be explored. Therefore, this study investigates a label-free colloidal surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic (SERS) method for profiling grouper mucus. Gold nanoparticles were first synthesised using the standard citrate reduction and characterised using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. The influence of acidified sodium sulphate (Na2SO4) at pH 3 as the aggregating agent on the enhancement of the SERS spectrum of different analyte samples including rhodamine 6G (R6G) dye, lysozyme solution and hybrid grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus × Epinephelus lanceolatus) mucus was observed. Based on the results, an optimal Na2SO4 concentration of 1 M was recorded to achieve the highest enhancement of the SERS signal for R6G and grouper mucus, while the optimal concentration for lysozyme was 0.1 M. The results indicated a higher degree of aggregation induced by lysozyme than R6G and grouper mucus. A few overlapping peaks of the SERS spectra of lysozyme and grouper mucus made it possible to confirm the presence of lysozyme as potential biomarkers.

Palladium Nanoparticles on Chitosan-Coated Superparamagnetic Manganese Ferrite: A Biocompatible Heterogeneous Catalyst for Nitroarene Reduction and Allyl Carbamate Deprotection.

Although metallic nanocatalysts such as palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) are known to possess higher catalytic activity due to their large surface-to-volume ratio, however, in nanosize greatly reducing their activity due to aggregation. To overcome this challenge, superparamagnetic chitosan-coated manganese ferrite was successfully prepared and used as a support for the immobilization of palladium nanoparticles to overcome the above-mentioned challenge. The Pd-Chit@MnFe2O4 catalyst exhibited high catalytic activity in 4-nitrophenol and 4-nitroaniline reductions, with respective turnover frequencies of 357.1 min-1 and 571.4 min-1, respectively. The catalyst can also be recovered easily by magnetic separation after each reaction. Additionally, the Pd-Chit@MnFe2O4 catalyst performed well in the reductive deprotection of allyl carbamate. Coating the catalyst with chitosan reduced the Pd leaching and its cytotoxicity. Therefore, the catalytic activity of Pd-Chit@MnFe2O4 was proven to be unrestricted in biology conditions.

Exploiting a strong coupling regime of organic pentamer surface plasmon resonance based on the Otto configuration for creatinine detection.

The sandwiched material-analyte layer in the surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-Otto configuration emulates an optical cavity and, coupled with large optical nonlinearity material, the rate of light escaping from the system is reduced, allowing the formation of a strong coupling regime. Here, we report an organic pentamer SPR sensor using the Otto configuration to induce a strong coupling regime for creatinine detection. Prior to that, the SPR sensor chip was modified with an organic pentamer, 1,4-bis[2-(5-thiophene-2-yl)-1-benzothiopene]-2,5-dioctyloxybenzene (BOBzBT2). To improve the experimental calibration curve, a normalisation approach based on the strong coupling-induced second dip was also developed. By using this procedure, the performance of the sensor improved to 0.11 mg/dL and 0.36 mg/dL for the detection and quantification limits, respectively.

Succinyl-κ-carrageenan Silver Nanotriangles Composite for Ammonium Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor.

This research investigates the physicochemical properties of biopolymer succinyl-κ-carrageenan as a potential sensing material for NH4+ Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) sensor. Succinyl-κ-carrageenan was synthesised by reacting κ-carrageenan with succinic anhydride. FESEM analysis shows succinyl-κ-carrageenan has an even and featureless topology compared to its pristine form. Succinyl-κ-carrageenan was composited with silver nanoparticles (AgNP) as LSPR sensing material. AFM analysis shows that AgNP-Succinyl-κ-carrageenan was rougher than AgNP-Succinyl-κ-carrageenan, indicating an increase in density of electronegative atom from oxygen compared to pristine κ-carrageenan. The sensitivity of AgNP-Succinyl-κ-carrageenan LSPR is higher than AgNP-κ-carrageenan LSPR. The reported LOD and LOQ of AgNP-Succinyl-κ-carrageenan LSPR are 0.5964 and 2.7192 ppm, respectively. Thus, AgNP-Succinyl-κ-carrageenan LSPR has a higher performance than AgNP-κ-carrageenan LSPR, broader detection range than the conventional method and high selectivity toward NH4+. Interaction mechanism studies show the adsorption of NH4+ on κ-carrageenan and succinyl-κ-carrageenan were through multilayer and chemisorption process that follows Freundlich and pseudo-second-order kinetic model.

Double-peak one-dimensional photonic crystal cavity in parallel configuration for temperature self-compensation in sensing.

We designed and demonstrated a double-peak one-dimensional photonic crystal (1D PhC) cavity device by integrating two 1D PhCs cavities in a parallel configuration. The device design is proposed so that it can be used for bio-sensing purposes and has a self-compensation ability to reduce the measurement error caused by the change of the surrounding temperature. By combining two light resonances, two resonance peaks are obtained. The peak's separation, which gives the initial value for a sensing system, can be controlled by varying the cavity length difference (Δc) between the first and second 1D PhCs in parallel. Then, by making one arm of the device as the reference arm and the other arm as the sensing arm, the temperature self-compensation device can be realized. The design and simulation of this device are done by using Lumerical software, which are Lumerical MODE, Lumerical finite-difference time-domain, and Lumerical Interconnect. Electron-beam-lithography and deep reactive-ion-etching processes were used for device fabrication. The experimental results show the controllable peaks' separation, which solves the double-peak requirement for a temperature self-compensated bio-sensor design.

High Sensitivity Microfiber Interferometer Sensor in Aqueous Solution.

The need for environmental protection and water pollution control has led to the development of different sensors for determining many kinds of pollutants in water. Ammonia nitrogen presence is an important indicator of water quality in environmental monitoring applications. In this paper, a high sensitivity sensor for monitoring ammonia nitrogen concentration in water using a tapered microfiber interferometer (MFI) as a sensor platform and a broad supercontinuum laser as the light source is realized. The MFI is fabricated to the waist diameter of 8 µm producing a strong interference pattern due to the coupling of the fundamental mode with the cladding mode. The MFI sensor is investigated for a low concentration of ammonia nitrogen in water in the wide wavelength range from 1500-1800 nm with a high-power signal provided by the supercontinuum source. The broad source allows optical sensing characteristics of the MFI to be evaluated at four different wavelengths (1505, 1605, 1705, and 1785 nm) upon exposure towards various ammonia nitrogen concentrations. The highest sensitivity of 0.099 nm/ppm that indicates the wavelength shift is observed at 1785 nm operating wavelength. The response is linear in the ammonia nitrogen range of 5-30 ppm with the best measurement resolution calculated to be 0.5 ppm. The low concentration ammonia nitrogen detected by the MFI in the unique infrared region reveals the potential application of this optical fiber-based sensor for rivers and drinking water monitoring.