We propose a new analytical approach combining vibrational spectroscopy and acoustic tomography for the detection and characterization of vesicles inside Streptomyces bacteria. Using atomic force microscopy and infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR), we detect the presence of triglyceride vesicles. Their sizes in depth are measured with high accuracy using mode synthesizing atomic force microscopy (MS-AFM). We conducted a comparative study of AFM-IR and MS-AFM, and highlighted the advantages of the coupling of these techniques in having a full characterization (chemical, topographical, and volumetric) of a biological sample. With these complementary techniques, a complete access to the vesicle size distribution has been achieved with an accuracy of less than 50 nm. A 3D reconstruction of bacteria showing the in-depth distribution of vesicles is given to underline the great potential of the acoustic method.

Challenges in nanoscale characterization call for non-invasive, yet sensitive subsurface characterization of low-density materials such as polymers. In this work, we present new evidence that mode-synthesizing atomic force microscopy can be used to detect minute changes in low-density materials, such as those engendered in electro-sensitive polymers during electron beam lithography, surpassing all common nanoscale mechanical techniques. Moreover, we propose 3D reconstruction of the exposed polymer regions using successive high-resolution frames acquired at incremental depths inside the sample. In addition, the results clearly show the influence of increasing dwell time on the depth profile of the nano-sized exposed regions. Hence, the simple approach described here can be used for achieving sensitive nanoscale tomography of soft materials with promising applications in material sciences and biology.

Metallic nanoparticles are considered as active supports in the development of specific chemical or biological biosensors. Well-organized nanoparticles can be prepared either through expensive (e.g., electron beam lithography) or inexpensive (e.g., thermal synthesis) approaches where different shapes of nanoparticles are easily obtained over large solid surfaces. Herein, the authors propose a low-cost thermal synthesis of active plasmonic nanostructures on thin gold layers modified glass supports after 1 h holding on a hot plate (~350 °C). The resulted annealed nanoparticles proved a good reproducibility of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) optical responses and where used for the detection of low concentrations of two model (bio)chemical molecules, namely the human cytochrome b5 (Cyt-b5) and trans-1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene (BPE).

An original sub-surface, high spatial resolution tomographic technique based on scanning microwave microscopy (SMM) is used to visualize in-depth materials with different chemical compositions.