Date of Award

December 2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Physics and Astronomy

Committee Member

Apparao Rao

Committee Member

Jian He

Committee Member

Terri Bruce

Abstract

Nanomaterials have been used in diverse biosensing applications over the years for their unique properties compared to their ‘bulk’ counterparts. The quantum effects observed in nanomaterials of different dimensions have been exploited, in particular, for fluorescence sensing using surface plasmons. The present work is directed towards the understanding of these effects and the physics behind such plasmons and its application.

In the first chapter (Chapter 1), a succinct introduction to quantum confinement and fluorescence biosensors has been presented, followed by a brief overview of the applications of nanomaterials in biosensing. Chapter 2 focuses on the various analytical and characterization techniques used in this work. Chapter 3 describes the effects of shape on the plasmonic enhancement in silver nanoparticles. In chapter 4, the work on the development of a novel bio-sensing platform (AIDLuQ) has been outlined along with its use in the ultrasensitive detection of biomolecules. Building on chapter 4, the AIDLuQ platform was used for a real-life application in the detection of a cancer biomarker. This was supported with DFT simulations providing an insight into the electronic interactions between graphene and the quantum dots at the nano-scale. This has been described in chapter 5.

These findings lay the groundwork for further in-depth research to study the linear as well as non-linear optical interactions in nanoparticles in the vicinity of other nanoparticles, as elucidated in chapter 6.

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