Synthesis and characterization of silver-PDMS nanocomposite for the biosensing applications

摘要

Noble metal (Au, Ag, Pd) - PDMS composites show highly enhanced mechanical and optical properties compared with the polymer alone. Among the different methods of synthesis, the in situ "one step" preparation of these composite materials, by immersion of PDMS films into the solution of the metal salt and reduction to elemental metal is a simple and straightforward method. The metal nanoparticles are immobilized and uniformly distributed into the surface layers of the polymer and this structure proved to be suitable for biosensing purposes. Sensing is performed by measuring the position and intensity of the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) band of silver in the UV-Visible spectrum of the nanocomposite. In this work, the structure and composition of Ag-PDMS nanocomposites are optimized in order to enhance the sensitivity of the sensing platform. A novel method of tuning the morphology of nanocomposite by annealing it for the desired optical property is optimized. The quality of the platform is investigated for sensing polypeptides such as hormones, through an immunoassay, by using the antigen-antibody interaction.