Tracer particle and method of using the same and method of manufacturing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11414658-B2
Application number	US-201916710632-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2019
Priority date	Dec 25, 2018
Publication date	Aug 16, 2022
Grant date	Aug 16, 2022

Abstract

A tracer particle is provided. The tracer particle includes: a core structure; a nucleic acid molecule immobilized on the core structure; and a shell layer covering the core structure and the nucleic acid molecule; wherein the core structure has a first porosity, the shell layer has a second porosity, and the first porosity is greater than the second porosity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tracer particle comprising:
a core structure;
a nucleic acid molecule immobilized on the core structure; and
a shell layer covering the core structure and the nucleic acid molecule;

wherein the core structure has a first porosity, the shell layer has a second porosity, and the first porosity is greater than the second porosity.

2. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the materials of the core structure and the shell layer comprise silicon dioxide, silicate, carbonate, nano-gold, metal oxide, polyethylene glycol polystyrene, polylactic acid, or a combination thereof.

3. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first porosity is in a range from 2 nm to 100 nm.

4. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second porosity is substantially zero.

5. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second porosity is in a range from 0.5 nm to 10 nm.

6. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the shell layer is a single-layer structure or a multilayer structure.

7. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the multilayer structure comprises an outer shell layer and an inner shell layer, and the inner shell layer comprises a plurality of holes.

8. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the particle size of the tracer particle is in a range from 30 nm to 10000 nm.

9. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the particle size of the core structure is in a range from 20 nm to 9000 nm.

10. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the shell layer is in a range from 10 nm to 5000 nm.

11. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the core structure comprises a plurality of holes, and the nucleic acid molecule is immobilized in the plurality of holes.

12. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the length of the nucleic acid molecule is in a range from 1500 base pairs (bp) to 10,000 base pairs.

13. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the nucleic acid molecule and the sequence as shown in SEQ ID No. 1 have a sequence similarity of at least 85%.

14. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the nucleic acid molecule comprises the sequence as shown in SEQ ID Nos. 2 and 3.

15. The tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the length of the nucleic acid molecule is in a range from 10 base pairs to 2000 base pairs.

16. A method for using a tracer particle, comprising:
providing a tracer particle as claimed in claim 1 ;
placing the tracer particle in a fluid to be observed;
collecting a sample of the fluid, recovering the tracer particle from the sample, and releasing the nucleic acid molecule from the tracer particle; and
analyzing the nucleic acid molecule that has been released.

17. The method for using a tracer particle as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the method is used for fluid tracking in geothermal source or oil wells.

18. The method for using a tracer particle as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the tracer particle can be operated in a fluid at 120° C. for at least 5 hours.

19. The method for using a tracer particle as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the tracer particle can be operated in a fluid having a pH value of 1 to 13 for at least 60 minutes.

20. The method for using a tracer particle as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the step of releasing the nucleic acid molecule from the tracer particle comprises using a hydrofluoric acid solution at a concentration of 0.5 (v/v) % to 3.0 (v/v) %.

21. The method for using a tracer particle as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the step of analyzing the nucleic acid molecule that has been released comprises performing a real-time polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR).

Assignees

• Ind Tech Res Inst

Inventors

• Fan kai-chun
• Han Yin-Lung
• Gao Pei-Jyuan
• Lin Yong-Yang
• Cheng Chieh-Lun
• Huang Chien-Chang
• Chang Yung-Ho
• Lin Chia-Long
• Ng I-Son
• Chen Bo-Han

Classifications

• C12N15/11 Primary

  DNA or RNA fragments; Modified forms thereof (DNA or RNA not used in recombinant technology, C07H21/00); {Non-coding nucleic acids having a biological activity} · CPC title

• B01J13/185 Primary

  in an organic phase · CPC title

• C12Q1/68

  involving nucleic acids · CPC title

• C12Q1/6876

  Nucleic acid products used in the analysis of nucleic acids, e.g. primers or probes · CPC title

• B82Y40/00

  Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures · CPC title