Hyperspectral Characterisation of Unlabelled Nanomaterials in Complex Environments

The CytoViva Hyperpectral Darkfield Microscope from Schaefer Technologie GmbH was developed to allow the easy visualisation and hyperspectral characterisation of a wide range of nanoscale materials, without the need of any fluorescent label or pretreatment of the samples.

The enhanced darkfield illumination optics of the microscope has a much better contrast and a documented 10 times better signal-to-noise ratio, when compared to standard darkfield optics.

The microscope is equipped with a VNIR transmission diffraction grating spectrograph, having a spectral resolution of 2 nm and a spectral range of 400 nm to 1000 nm. This spectrograph can detect the pure reflection spectra of all image pixels. The collected spectra can be stored in spectral libraries and used for quantitative spectral analysis of the unique nanostructures, or for mapping and localisation of the nanostructures in other new samples.

For simultaneous detection of fluorescent and non-fluorescent sample elements, the dual mode fluorescent module is offered.

For long-term studies with living cells Schaefer Technologie provides a compatible environmental chamber with a closed bath design, with temperature control, perfusion and gassing. With this, one can observe, track and image the interactions between living cells and nanomaterials over hours or even days.