Gold nanoflowers spot explosives and drugs at trace levels

Gold flowers, but on an infinitely small scale: that is what SON SAS, a start-up founded in 2020 in Côte-d'Or, makes. According to L'Usine Nouvelle, these nanoflowers can detect trace amounts of explosives or drugs. The magazine describes them as “one of a kind in the world” nanomaterials, a claim that remains its own: no independent testing is cited in the pages consulted.

Detection relies on Raman SERS, an optical analysis method. Used with it, the nanoflowers make it possible to identify molecules ranging from explosives to medicines and drugs. The nanomaterial amplifies the signal, and the technique reads the molecule: this combination is what the company sells.

What sets SON SAS apart, according to its own pages, is consistency. Each batch is identical in size, shape and surface chemistry, and the synthesis follows the Massart method, presented as free of polluting chemical processes. For measurement, this consistency matters: particles that vary from one batch to the next make results difficult to compare.

The team includes a dozen people in organic chemistry, biology and physical chemistry. La Gazette du Laboratoire reports that these nanoflowers could be used for diagnostics, to characterize or analyze molecules.

Who does this affect? Those who must detect a substance present in very small quantities, whether an explosive or a medicine. When? No timeline, price or customer is given. What is established today is an offering of nanoparticles and a detection method described by its promoters.