MESOPOROUS SILICA THIN FILMS FOR BIOMOLECULES SERS DETECTION

The functional plasmon active surfaces was designed and constructed for advanced Raman spectroscopy purposes. There is a huge demand in biochemistry and medicine for on-line observation of microorganism's behavior, including the biofilms formation. For this goal the Raman spectroscopy measurements can be used. The obstacle we face is that the (bio)liquid may contain a lot of different sized biomolecules. To cut-off unnecessary molecules we propose the utilization of molecular sieve - mesoporous silica thin film (MSTF) deposited on plasmon active surface (periodical gold grating). Our biosensors detect trace amounts of cytotoxic ions and molecules, released from biomaterials. The plasmonic surface was functionalized with MSTF with the aim to provide the selective interaction/entrapping of the targeted objects of interest. Proposed approach also allows to directly monitor cell behavior on the variously modified surfaces and, moreover, surfaces with different morphologies. Development of proposed ideas and concepts introduces an innovative approach in the analysis of complex (bio)molecules system, get new information about the microorganism behavior as well as shed light on previously unknown phenomena in the microbiology field.