Single-walled carbon nanotubes as near infrared fluorescent sensors : characterization, biological and analytical applications

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have emerged as biological signaling molecules, participating in newly discovered cascades that govern cell proliferation, migration, and pathogenesis. A major challenge in understanding these pathways is the lack of detection technologies that allow for spatial and temporal resolution of specific ROS at the cellular level. The goal of this thesis is to design a nanotube sensor platform able to detect and study H2 0 2 signaling fluxes at the cellular level in order to elucidate their role in biological processes. Understanding this role may lead to new therapeutic targets, and improve understanding of biological signaling. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) are rolled sheets of graphene and can be either semiconducting or metallic depending on the angle of rolling and the diameter of the tube. Semi-conducting SWNT are one of only a few types of molecules that exhibit band gap photoluminescence (PL) in the near infrared (nIR), making them ideal for detection in biologically relevant media since it avoids biological auto-fluorescence. SWNT are also completely photostable even at high fluence, unlike conventional fluorophores and quantum dot systems, allowing them to serve as nIR single molecule optical sensors capable of long term and stable operations in vitro and in vivo. In this thesis, we show that the 1D quantum confinement of photogenerated excitons in SWNT can amplify the detection of molecular adsorption to where single-molecule discrimination is realizable, even from within living cells and tissues.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Chemical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Jin, Hong, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Michael S. Strano.

• Chemical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/58064

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/58064