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Touchless Optical Ultraviolet CHemical resonantLy Enhanced Sensor Systems

Objective

Imagine biosensor systems that can provide detailed information about your health, the environment or industrial processes, yet they can operate autonomously and non-invasively. They function without complex surface chemistries such as antibodies and can operate in a flow-through format, i.e. they work in a TOUCHLESS fashion.

We will realise this exciting vision by opening up the field of ultraviolet (UV) nanophotonics, which is a true Frontier that is yet underexplored because it poses significant design challenges, it pushes the limits of nanofabrication and of materials. UV nanophotonics enables a wide range of opportunities, because many molecules relevant for biomedical, industrial or environmental applications have strong signatures in the UV range. The PI and his team will use their unique combination of expertise in fundamental photonics, nanofabrication and instrumentation to pioneer novel structures that meet these challenges. We will explore three types of nanostructure-enhanced spectroscopy:

1. Resonant mode Resonant Raman (R3) spectroscopy, which exploits the strongly enhanced Raman scattering in the UV with surprisingly little fluorescent background. Together with photonic resonances, we aim for a total enhancement factor of 108.
2. Integrated dispersion spectroscopy that uses phase to improve the sensitivity of absorption spectroscopy by 2 orders of magnitude.
3. Lensless fluorometry that uses flatband filters and compressive sensing to identify multiple fluorophores with a single UV LED while reducing cost and complexity by a factor 10-100.

Applications include biofilm typing, drinking water monitoring and the analysis of infectious bacteria. What distinguishes our approach is that it solely relies on the spectroscopic signature of the target molecules, so no recognition molecules are required. The methods are truly “touchless”-no surface attachment or complex sample processing is needed-so they can be readily used in a flow-through format.

Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2025-ADG

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Host institution

UNIVERSITY OF YORK
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 421 416,25
Address
HESLINGTON
YO10 5DD YORK NORTH YORKSHIRE
United Kingdom

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Region
Yorkshire and the Humber North Yorkshire York
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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No data

Beneficiaries (2)