(429c) (Invited Plenary Talk): Hybrid Plasmonic Nanomaterials for Uranium Sensing

Uranium, a radioactive material with a long half-life, accumulates in the environment in its oxidative form uranyl, which can contaminate soil and water. Importantly, uranyl forms complexes with anions and cations thereby influencing solubility, toxicity, and fate of these heavy metal species. Furthermore, uranyl speciation varies with pH. The resulting complex speciation complicates detection and/or requires significant sample pretreatment. As such, methods that are capable of identifying trace uranyl species in complex samples are needed. In this presentation, hybrid plasmonic nanomaterials and experimental workflow implementation will be used to establish a rigorous protocol for uranyl sensing and detection. Namely, localized surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy (LSPR), Raman spectroscopy, and surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) serve as label-free and near real-time methods for identifying uranium species in complex aqueous solutions. Reproducible detection of uranyl, an important biological and environmental contaminant, from complex matrices is successfully achieved using hybrid plasmonic nanoparticles. Traditionally, non-specific binding of interfering species limits detects of molecules such as uranyl. Herein, this is overcome using materials design and rigorous sample analysis workflow design. Synergistic approaches for uranyl isolation and SERS detection is promising for real-world sample detection and eliminates the need of radioactive tracers and extensive sample pretreatment steps.