Gianfranco Terrones Successfully Defends His Doctoral Thesis on Advanced Molecular Detection Using Plasmonic Nanostructures
On Friday, November 7th, 2025, Gianfranco Terrones successfully defended his doctoral thesis titled "Plasmonic Nanostructure Engineering for Ultra-Sensitive Molecular Detection via Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS)".
His research addresses one of the most demanding challenges in modern analytical chemistry - the detection and identification of molecules at ultra-low concentrations, a crucial aspect in clinical diagnostics, pharmaceutical development, and environmental monitoring.
The thesis explores the systematic design and optimization of plasmonic nanoparticle architectures to enhance SERS performance. Through controlled synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles, hierarchical assembly, and surface modification using molecular recognition elements, Terrones developed innovative nanostructures capable of amplifying molecular signals by factors of 10¹⁰-10¹¹.
The results reveal that core-satellite nanoparticle architectures can achieve outstanding signal enhancement and reproducibility, with tailored metallic compositions improving performance across different wavelengths. Moreover, functionalization with cyclodextrin molecules introduces selective analyte recognition, paving the way for next-generation SERS platforms with exceptional sensitivity and specificity.
Gianfranco's work provides valuable contributions to the field of plasmonic nanotechnology and opens new perspectives for its application in chemical sensing and biomedical diagnostics.
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