Zirconia-Based Magnetoplasmonic Nanocomposites: A New Nanotool for Magnetic-Guided Separations with SERS Identification

In the field of nanomaterials, multifunctional nanosystems play a prominent role in many applications as new magnetically recoverable catalysts, information processing, fuel cells, efficient bio/nanosensors, and nanomedicine. Aiming at the obtainment of new nanomaterials for biotechnological applications such as biosensors or theragnostic systems, we present a multifunctional system able to merge different properties in only one nanotool. The system is prepared by loading the pores of mesoporous zirconia nanoparticles with CoFe2O4, by a wet impregnation method, further modifying the surface of the material with bis(phosphonic acid) to load gold nanoparticles, produced by laser ablation. The obtained nanocomposite functionalized with a SERS probe represents a specific example of a magnetoplasmonic nanosystem. The results show the efficacy of the strategy of exploiting mesoporous zirconia nanoparticles for obtaining magnetoplasmonic nanotools.