Detection of specific small biomolecules amounts is usually challenging. Recently, nanomaterials have provided new materials with interesting optical properties for such an application, especially plasmonic nanomaterials.

In this project, we propose the design of a specific type of nanocomposite made from the incorporation of plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) within track-etched functionalized polymer membranes. The tuning of the material plasmonic response will be achieved by a controlled in situ NP synthesis directly within the membrane nanopores, through chemical and physico-chemical processes. Especially, the use of radiation (electron beam, ?-rays) to induce the in situ reduction of the metallic precursor will be studied. Ionizing beams (Swift Heavy ions) will also serve to structure the polymer matrix in nanoporous membrane with controlled nanoporosity. The relation between the composite nanostructure and its optical properties will be thoroughly investigated in order to determine the ideal material for biomolecule detection, which will be tested on model molecules such as proteins or virus-like particles (VLPs) in the final part of the project.