Descrizione del progetto
Estrarre, separare e rilevare i microinquinanti con un solo semplice passaggio
Nell’analisi, la preparazione del campione è il passaggio più difficile. I metodi attualmente utilizzati per estrarre e separare sostanze minuscole nei campioni liquidi sono complesse, costose e richiedono molto tempo e spesso anche l’utilizzo di solventi tossici. Il progetto NanoEX, finanziato dall’UE, intende sviluppare una nuova tecnica di preparazione dei campioni in grado di superare queste lacune. L’obiettivo sarà raggiunto per mezzo di un approccio di rilevamento della superficie basato su nanogocce, per l’estrazione liquido-liquido e l’analisi online di tracce di analiti in soluzioni acquose. L’approccio proposto, definito come nanoestrazione, è potenzialmente in grado di estrarre, separare e rilevare i microinquinanti in un solo semplice passaggio. In considerazione della facilità di utilizzo e della scala ridotta, questa tecnologia dispone del potenziale per migliorare le soluzioni d’avanguardia disponibili attualmente sul mercato.
Obiettivo
Sample preparation is considered to be the most difficult step in analytic workflow. Current methods for extraction and
separation of minute substances in liquid samples are laborious, time-consuming, often involve large amounts of toxic
organic solvents, and are often difficult to automatize, implying high costs of man-power. An innovative sample preparation
technique which has the potential to overcome these shortcomings will be developed in this project. Based on the first
promising results in the ERC-AdG project DDD, we propose a surface nanodroplet-based sensing approach for liquid-liquid
extraction and online analysis of traces of analytes in aqueous solutions, including in biomedical, health, pharmaceutical and
environmental contexts. The basis of our approach, referred to as nanoextraction, will be surface nanodroplets pre-formed
on a substrate within a microflow channel. The principle of the nanoextraction is that the partition coefficient of the compound
in the droplets is much higher than in the sample solution. The compound in the flow will thus be extracted to the
nanodroplets that are immobilized on the channel walls. The concentration of the compound in the droplets will be quantified
by surface-sensitive spectroscopic techniques. Our proposed approach can potentially achieve extraction-separation-detection
of analytes at extremely low concentrations in one single and simple step. The ability to achieve extraction-separation-
detection of micropollutants in one single step is creating new and unique market opportunities which we want to
explore. First, the technology can improve the state-of-the-art solutions in current markets, because of the easy usage and
the small scale, thus saving time and costs. Second, we foresee new markets for the method, due to the higher sensitivity
and point-of-care character of the solution. Our final goal in this project is to create a solid and investor-ready business plan,
supported by a prototype.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantIstituzione ospitante
7522 NB Enschede
Paesi Bassi