Bare laser-synthesized plasmonic Au and TiN nanoparticles as functional additives to polymer nanofiber platforms for tissue engineering applications

Exhibiting strong optical absorption in the visible – near-infrared, plasmonic nanomaterials can be used as transducers in optical biosensing, contrast agents in bioimaging and synthesizers of photothermal therapy. Such functionalities promise their employment as functional elements in tissue engineering platforms, but such applications typically require ultraclean nanomaterials to minimize toxicity problems, which is not easy using conventional chemical synthesis routes. We recently demonstrated the possibility of fabricating ultraclean bare (ligand-free) plasmonic Au and TiN nanoparticles by ultrashort laser ablation in liquid ambient. Exempt of any toxic contaminants and exhibiting a series of imaging and therapeutic functionalities, these nanomaterials present promising objects for various biomedical applications. Here, we review our recent progress in the co-electrospinning of laser-synthesized Au and TiN nanoparticles with polymers to form functionalized matrices for tissue engineering.

Development of Molecular Imprinting Polymer Nanofiber for Aflatoxin B1 Detection Based on Quartz Crystal Microbalance

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is one of the mycotoxins with the most dangerous poisons and poses a threat to living things. Several detection methods for Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) with high sensitivity (LC-MS technique, HPLC, ELISA, etc.) still require lengthy preparation time and are not real-time and portable. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) detection is one of the major challenges in the field of food safety because Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) attacks the food and agricultural products sector. One of the potential sensors that can be used as a base for Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) detection is the Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) sensor. This study examines the performance of the Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) sensor as one of the Aflatoxin B1 detection techniques through the physical deposition method. The Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) sensor modified uses polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) material as a container to embed a molecular model that will be detected through a molecular imprinting polymer (MIP) process coated on QCM using the electrospinning method. The response results show that the value of the sensor response using the MIP process is more significant than without the MIP process. The sensor characteristics demonstrated by the PVAc/AFB 50 sample have a limit of detection (LOD) value is 0.63 ppb, and a limit of quantitation (LOQ) is 1.91 ppb with a coefficient correlation is 0.97 for testing with a concentration range of 5.0 – 40.0 ppb. Therefore, the MIP process in QCM provides a favorable response for the detection of AFB1 in the future.