2020 journal article

Carbon Nanotube and Organic Color Center Solvatochromism in Biomedicine

ECS Meeting Abstracts, MA2020-02(67), 3409–3409.

co-author countries: Egypt 🇪🇬 United States of America 🇺🇸
Source: ORCID
Added: August 20, 2022

Optical sensor technologies for vivo use often run into difficulties when attempting to relay quantitative information. Fluorescence transmission from within tissues may be variable depending on depth and tissue heterogeneity. Modulation of the fluorescence emission band position may mitigate some of these difficulties. We developed sensors that modulate the near-infrared emission of single-walled carbon nanotubes and organic color centers (carbon nanotubes with covalent sp 3 defects). We developed methods to control solvatochromic behavior to improve sensor responses, and we developed tools to observe solvatochromism within live cells and live animals. We found that nanotube solvatochromism extends to variations of local electrostatic charge, induced by adsorption/desorption of polyelectrolytes on the nanotube surface, such as proteins and nucleic acids. We also found that dielectric and charge-mediated solvatochromism can be compounded to exacerbate the response. Upon triggered desorption of a polyelectrolyte, amphiphilic molecules can adsorb to the recently-uncovered nanotube surface. This work has enabled the detection of disease biomarkers, drugs, and metabolites, and nucleic acids, including virus RNA, facilitating improvements in disease detection, drug development, and biomedical research.