ChemiQS

GOALS OF THE PROJECT

The rise of quantum sensing brings the opportunity to develop sensors that can be substantially more sensitive, scalable and faster than the classical ones, thus affecting many scientific and industrial disciplines, including chemistry, biochemistry, biology and medicine. Although different sensing principles and nanoprobes have been studied, they are still limited mainly in sensitivity and spatiotemporal resolution. For instance, nanodiamond particles with qubits can act as optical probes and have enormous potential e.g. for intracellular localized detection, but the sensitivity is limited by short coherence times of the qubits due to subsurface defects and unsaturated bonds. Moreover, the sensor specificity and colloidal stability in the biological liquids need to be addressed. The project aims to tackle these problems by exploring surface chemistry, polymer coating and chemical linking strategies to develop a new generation of nanodiamond-based quantum sensing probes. Specifically, novel chemical approach will be tested to annihilate the dangling bonds and subsurface defects by controlled surface removal using radical etching in the gas phase. The nanodiamond probes will be then stabilized colloidally by developing ultrathin polymer coatings and the probe specificity will be ensured by novel linking strategies. Finally, the qubit spin properties will be monitored optically to detect paramagnetic ions and nucleic acids in biologically relevant conditions with unprecedented sensitivity.

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