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University of Maribor, Slovenia

Title : Nanomaterials for sensor applications: Challenges, oportunities and risks

Abstract:

Due to the increased specific area - to - volume ratio (S/V), sol-gel nanomaterials may have different and, in many cases, better chemical and physical characteristics than bulk materials. Many of these properties can be improved by surface modification and functionalization of nanomaterials, which can be done by altering their functionality and characteristics of their surfaces, such as roughness, hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity, surface charge, biocompatibility, and reactivity. Almost all types of materials, including metals, ceramics, polymers, silanes, and composites can be used for coating the surface of nanoparticles, to tune their properties.

In this way, the functionality of nanomaterials can be adapted to the desired application. Due to the extremely fascinating and useful chemical and physical properties, nanomaterials exhibit an interest in many fields of applications such as biomedicine and biotechnology, environmental protection, photonics and sensor technology, production of paints and varnishes, textiles, footwear, packaging, electronics, aerospace and automotive, etc. Until today, nanotechnology has already contributed to the number of innovative products in various engineering disciplines. In the European market, many products containing nanomaterials, e.g., batteries, coatings, antibacterial textiles, cosmetics, food products, are already present.

Although nanomaterials, on the one hand, offer technical and commercial opportunities and challenges, on the other hand, they can pose a risk to the environment and raise concerns about the health and safety of humans and animals, as regulation of nanomaterials is debated and many questions related to the risks of exposure to nanomaterials are still unanswered.

This lecture will introduce some recent examples from our Research Group demonstrating the use and challenges that may be tackled by functional nanomaterials, and some risks will be briefly mentioned:

(a). In the “Safety and protection” as an optical chemical sensors for food quality control, detection and protection against UV radiation, and toxic organophosphates.

Optical chemical sensors based on mesoporous silica (SiO2) and titania (TiO2) nanomaterial became very widespread in the last decades and rely on the use of “sol-gel” materials, which include e.g. indicators, dyes and other additives.

Our group recently developed a variety of novel “sol-gel” materials in the form of spherical nanoparticles and thin films containing specific dyes which enable more reliable sensing of important parameters such as oxygen, temperature, pH, etc., which will be presented together with the sensing requirements of sensitivity, selectivity, stability, etc. [4, 5]

(b). In the “Health” as an optical chemical sensors for the detection of disease states in-vitro and in- vivo, as well as superparamagnetic hollow spherical nanostructures for drug delivery, as an antimicrobial nanomaterials, etc..

In the last two decades, substantial progress has been made in biomedical applications, in the development and functionalization of superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles. Due to the simplicity in their use and the ease in their manipulation, functionalized superparamagnetic nanoparticles have been shown as the appropriate in drug and gene delivery, immobilization of biomolecules, cell purification/separation, hyperthermia, etc. Hollow-type nanostructures of superparamagnetic iron-oxide shell containing antitumor therapeutic drug “doxorubicine" (DOX) in the cavity, were prepared by using new modified hard-template method where mesoporous SiO2 particles served as the templates. This new method of preparing hollow spheres was patent protected granted by the Intellectual Property Office, London.

Furthermore, mesoporous silica (SiO2) nanoparticles have attracted much attention the last decade in nanomedicine applications due to their biocompatibility, flexible functionalisation, tunable pore size and diameter. In addition to the fine control of their size, shape, and pore structures, incorporation of drugs, dyes or indicators is important for their therapeutic applications. Our recent results on the synthesis and functionalization of various types of superparamagnetic nanoparticles (“core-shell”) and mesoporous silica nanoparticles having different pore sizes, containing therapeutic agents and dyes, will be presented. We will also briefly present some research done on antimicrobial Ag nanomaterials and their applications.

References:

MABES RAJ, Allwin, CHOUHAN, Raghuraj S., KOŠAK, Aljoša, HORVAT, Milena, LOBNIK, Aleksandra, RIJAVEC, Tomaž, LAPANJE, Aleš. Recent progress and advancement in detecting Methylmercury using a battery of biosensors and biomolecular-based techniques : An updated overview. TrAC. Trends in analytical chemistry. 2025, vol. 184, art. 118157, str. 1-21.
DONÀ, Edoardo, LOBNIK, Aleksandra. Chlorpyrifos detection based on 9-fluorenone oxime. Chemosensors. May 2025, vol. 13, iss. 5, [article no.] 170, 12 str. ISSN 2227-9040.
DIMITRUŠEV, Nena, NEDELJKO, Polonca, MABES RAJ, Allwin, LOBNIK, Aleksandra. Comparison of surface and spectral properties of optical sensor layers prepared by spin/spray coating and printing techniques. Chemosensors. Feb. 2023, vol. 11, iss. 2, [article no.] 2, str. 1-17. ISSN 2227-9040.
SLIESARENKO, Valeriia V., KRSTI?, Marijana, BREN, Urban, LOBNIK, Aleksandra. Development of fluorescence-based method for dopamine determination using o- phthaldialdehyde and 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane. Sensors. 7 Mar. 2025, vol. 25,iss. 6,
SLIESARENKO, Valeriia V., BREN, Urban, LOBNIK, Aleksandra. Fluorescence based dopamine detection. Sensors and actuators reports. June 2024, vol. 7, [article no.] 100199, 12 str., ilustr. ISSN 2666-0539.

Biography:

To be updated shortly..