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Roll-to-Roll Nano Sensors Enhance Manufacturing Opportunities

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Roll-to-roll mass manufacturing is a key technology in low-cost disposable photonic sensor production, which could pave the way for new business and job opportunities, particularly for small and medium enterprises.

Photosens, a European consortium project led by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, is developing a polymer-based nanophotonic sensor that can be mass produced for environmental applications, pharmaceutical process cleanliness and food safety applications.

“The Photosens project has developed a novel and highly cost-effective manufacturing method for periodic nanostructures, which form the basis of most SERS [surface-enhanced Raman scattering] substrates,” said David Eustace of Renishaw Diagnostics in Scotland, a member of the consortium. He added that these developments “open up a new range of applications for this highly sensitive and selective analytical technique.”

Currently, utilization of multiparameter sensing is hindered by the lack of low-cost and highly reproducible fabrication methods for nanostructured surfaces. Photosens’ development of roll-to-roll nanoimprinting manufacturing addresses these challenges.

“It was a challenge and very interesting to see that molecularly imprinted polymers can, in principle, be implemented into mass-manufactured sensor systems,” said Peter Lieberzeit of the University of Vienna, a member of the consortium. “Photosens has played a seminal role in bringing such systems forward on their way from academia to application.”

A multiparameter sensor array uses photonic crystal (PC) and SERS methodologies. Integrating the PC- and SERS-based sensors with integrated optics-coupling structures within a single sensor platform allows the implementation of a high-performance multiparameter sensor.

“The combination of smart sensing layers and the nanophotonic sensing principle performed in mass-manufacturable plastic chips opens the possibility for [applications such as] inexpensive disposable gas sensing elements,” said Arjen Boersma of Netherlands-based TNO, a member of the consortium.

Additional project partners include the University of Southampton in England, Momentive in Germany, Nanocomp in Finland, 3-D AG of Switzerland, and Philips in the Netherlands.

For more information, visit: www.photosens.eu
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Published: February 2014
Glossary
nano
An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as nanophotonics), for example, is the study of how light and light-matter interactions behave on the nanometer scale. See nanophotonics.
surface-enhanced raman scattering
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful analytical technique that enhances the Raman scattering signal of molecules adsorbed on or near certain nanostructured surfaces. Raman scattering is a process in which light interacts with molecular vibrations, providing a fingerprint-like spectrum that can be used to identify and characterize chemical compounds. SERS significantly amplifies the Raman signal, making it more sensitive and allowing for the detection of molecules at very low...
BiophotonicsBusinessEnglandEuropeFinlandGermanyindustrialMaterialsnanoNanocompNetherlandsOpticsPCPhilipsphotonic crystalResearch & Technologyroll-to-roll manufacturingScotlandSERSspectroscopysurface-enhanced Raman scatteringSwitzerlandTech PulseTNOUniversity of SouthamptonUniversity of ViennaVTT Technical Research CentrePhotosensphotonic sensorRenishaw DiagnosticsMomentive3-D AG

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