Fluorescent Nanodiamonds in Analytical and Biological Sciences
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomaterials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 January 2025 | Viewed by 30
Special Issue Editors
Interests: nanotechnology; fluorescent nanodiamond; biosensor; precision medicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: plasmas; nanocarbons; nanoparticles; quantum materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) have emerged as versatile tools in interdisciplinary research, particularly in the analytical and biological sciences. FNDs have a dense ensemble of negatively charged nitrogen–vacancy (NV–) centers, serving as inherent fluorophores with exceptional optical and magnetic properties. When exposed to green-orange light, the NV– center exhibits absorption at approximately 550 nm and emits bright fluorescence at around 700 nm, with a prolonged lifetime exceeding 10 ns. These unique features of FNDs make them well-suited for background-free imaging in tissue sections and long-term cell tracking, particularly in stem cell research. Moreover, NV–-containing FNDs act as photostable contrast agents, enabling super-resolution imaging via stimulated emission depletion (STED) and enhancing spatial resolution. The NV– center's quantum characteristic also provides optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) and ultrasensitive nanoscale temperature sensing, achieved through pump–probe nanothermometry with sub-10 μs temporal resolution. Furthermore, integrating FNDs with gold nanoparticles can be mobilized in localized hyperthermia applications. In the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, the necessity for accurate and rapid immunoassays remains critical. While reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) serves as the gold standard for detecting viral RNA, its expense, time consumption, and reliance on skilled professionals pose challenges for translation into point-of-care (POC) testing. Lateral flow immunoassays (LFIAs), extensively utilized for POC testing, face limitations in sensitivity and specificity when employing conventional colloidal gold particles. Despite efforts to improve detection sensitivity and specificity, which are crucial for minimizing false outcomes, LFIA approaches fall short. To address these limitations, some studies have proposed the development of an ultrasensitive and rapid immunoassay platform for blocking the transmission of emerging diseases—the spin-enhanced lateral flow immunoassay (SELFIA). This innovative approach uses the spin properties of the NV– center in FNDs for in vitro diagnostics, offering a promising avenue for enhancing sensitivity and speed in POC testing.
It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript to this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.
Dr. Wesley Wei-Wen Hsiao
Prof. Dr. Wei-Hung Chiang
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- fluorescent nanodiamond
- negatively charged nitrogen−vacancy center application
- biosensor
