A hollow nanogold/meso-magnetite composite: pulsed laser synthesis, properties, and biosensing application

摘要

A facile and template-free UV (Excimer) laser photolysis process is demonstrated to transform a Fe-complex into unique hollow Fe_3O_4 nanosphere morphology with each sphere having nanometric pores and an opening. Depending on the Fe-complex concentration and processing time interesting configurations are seen to evolve. When an identical process is applied to a mixture of Fe-complex and chloroauric acid an enthrallingly decorated Au-Fe_3O_4 nanostructure evolves, with Au nanoparticles surface-loaded on mesospheric Fe_3O_4. This room temperature process implemented under normal laboratory conditions is clearly versatile and applicable to heterojunction nanomaterials synthesis in a single-step process. The potential application of these gold-decorated magnetic nanostructures was also investigated for immunomagnetic capture of E. coli in biosensing and these were found to be sensitive even below 1,000 cfu/ml. The test results demonstrate linear sensing response in the range of 103-105 cfu/ml. We also show that these nanostructures can be used for simple electrical conductivity-based biosensing since they show dramatic conductivity change in a simple drop-cast test.