April 16, 2025
Contact: Eric Stann, StannE@missouri.edu
Photos by Angira Roy and Sam O’Keefe

Imagine tiny LEGO pieces that automatically snap together to form a strong, flat sheet. Then, scientists add special chemical "hooks" to these sheets to attach glowing molecules called fluorophores.

Associate Professor Gary Baker, Piyuni Ishtaweera, PhD ’24, and their team at the University of Missouri have created these tiny, clay-based materials — called fluorescent polyionic nanoclays. They can be customized for many uses, including advancing energy and sensor technology, improving medical treatments and protecting the environment.

Thousands of commercially available fluorophores are used today for medical imaging, disease detection and biomarker tagging, as well as in sensors for chemical analysis, forensic investigations and biosensing. They can also play a key role in industrial applications such as water quality monitoring.

Mizzou’s discovery, which is patent pending, stands out due to the remarkable adaptability of these nanoclays.

“They possess a high degree of functionality, meaning we can control how many and what kinds of fluorescent molecules are attached to the surfaces of these nanoclays,” Baker, whose appointment is in the Department of Chemistry, said. “This provides a versatile platform where the optical and physicochemical properties can be precisely tuned by selecting and attaching appropriate molecules. This ready-for-use customization is the hallmark of these materials, enabling a wide array of applications across different fields.”