We are developing optical chemical sensors combining two types of promising nanomaterials: plasmonic metallic nanoparticles, to benefit of their capacity to enhance local electric fields; and metallic organic frameworks (MOFs), porous materials tailored to capture specific molecules.

This ambitious project, sponsored by the Innovation Defense Lab of the French Ministry of Defense, has put together three French leading labs spanning the key research expertise of this project: solid state chemistry, metallic organic frameworks, spectroscopy, engineering, microscopy and sensing.

Processes of wet chemistry and high resolution microscopies are predominantly used in the synthesis and characterization of customized nanomaterials. Those are subsequently assessed for their suitability and performance as sensor in particular challenging environments. The ultimate goal of the project is to fabricate portable devices capable to detect specific airborne molecules at parts-per-billion level in seconds.

High-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy images of Nanomaterials synthesized (credit Dr. Simon Delacroix, leading PDRA of the project).

Team members:

Prof. Christian Serre and Dr. Antoine Tissot, the Institute of Porous Materials of Paris (IMAP) at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) and the Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de Paris (ESPCI)

https://www.chimie.ens.fr/recherche/laboratoire-imap/

Prof. Thierry Gacoin, the Laboratory of Condensed Matter (LPMC) at Ecole Polytechnique – Institut Polytechnique de Paris

https://pmc.polytechnique.fr/spip.php?article623

 

Prof. Aleix Guell (PI), Dr. Simon Delacroix, the Laboratory of Physics of Interfaces and Thin Films (LPICM) at Polytechnique – Institut Polytechnique de Paris

 

 

Funded by Innovation Defense Lab of the French Ministry of Defense