Hybrid Noble Metal/Graphene Aerogels: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications for Chemical Sensing and Biosensing

Dear Colleagues,

Graphene aerogels, compared to other carbon based aerogels, are produced by cost-effective processes (for example, by starting with graphene oxide that can be easily obtained from graphite). They are low-density materials with a large surface-to-volume ratio, and show a functional porous nanostructured network that imparts high sorption properties of several species from liquid or gaseous media to the matrix, like a sponge. At the same time, they retain the various intrinsic properties of graphene, such as high mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, thermal resistance, and peculiar optical features.

The introduction of noble metal-based (nano)structures into the aerogel matrix abruptly expands the variety of applications. Thus, hybrid aerogels are good candidates for chemical sensing and biosensing because they exploit several signal transduction principles. In fact, the resulting heterogeneity of the substrate surface chemistry offers different routes towards specific functionalization or adsorption, such as oxygen-containing terminations, graphene plane π-π interactions, and noble metals’ (Au, Ag, etc.) chemical affinity for thiol-compounds. Moreover, the presence of the noble metals ameliorates the performance of the aerogel, as electrode materials in electrochemical/electrical sensing or as substrates for optical sensing. As a representative example, Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS)-based sensing can yield the combination of the plasmonic features of the metallic structures and the graphene properties of the Raman signal enhancement via a chemical mechanism (CM) that occurs via charge transfer (CT) between graphene and the adsorbed species.

This Special Issue focuses on the above described frame, in terms of synthesis processes, hybrid aerogels structural, morphological characterization, and sensing applications, ranging from pollutant detection and toxin sensing (e.g., in food monitoring) to biomedical applications aimed to identify/quantify biomolecules (e.g., oligonucleotides, proteins, and enzymes) by means of optical and electrical techniques.

Dr. Paola Rivolo
Guest Editor

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• synthesis and characterization of graphene-based aerogels
• silver and gold nanoparticles
• adsorption
• absorption
• functionalization
• chemical sensing
• biosensing
• optical detection
• electrical/electrochemical detection