scholarly journals Optimizing the Limit of Detection of Waveguide-Based Interferometric Biosensor Devices

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (17) ◽  
pp. 3671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Leuermann ◽  
Adrián Fernández-Gavela ◽  
Antonia Torres-Cubillo ◽  
Sergio Postigo ◽  
Alejandro Sánchez-Postigo ◽  
...  

Waveguide-based photonic sensors provide a unique combination of high sensitivity, compact size and label-free, multiplexed operation. Interferometric configurations furthermore enable a simple, fixed-wavelength read-out making them particularly suitable for low-cost diagnostic and monitoring devices. Their limit of detection, i.e., the lowest analyte concentration that can be reliably observed, mainly depends on the sensors response to small refractive index changes, and the noise in the read-out system. While enhancements in the sensors response have been extensively studied, noise optimization has received much less attention. Here we show that order-of-magnitude enhancements in the limit of detection can be achieved through systematic noise reduction, and demonstrate a limit of detection of ∼ 10 - 8 RIU with a silicon nitride sensor operating at telecom wavelengths.

Biosensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 114
Author(s):  
Yunjeong Park ◽  
Min-Sung Hong ◽  
Woo-Hyuk Lee ◽  
Jung-Gu Kim ◽  
Kyunghoon Kim

Sensing targeted tumor markers with high sensitivity provides vital information for the fast diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. A vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF165) have recently emerged as a promising biomarker of tumor cells. The electrochemical aptasensor is a promising tool for detecting VEGF165 because of its advantages such as a low cost and quantitative analysis. To produce a sensitive and stable sensor electrode, nanocomposites based on polyaniline (PANI) and carbon nanotube (CNT) have potential, as they provide for easy fabrication, simple synthesis, have a large surface area, and are suitable in biological environments. Here, a label-free electrochemical aptasensor based on nanocomposites of CNT and PANI was prepared for detecting VEGF165 as a tumor marker. The nanocomposite was assembled with immobilized VEGF165 aptamer as a highly sensitive VEGF165 sensor. It exhibited stable and wide linear detection ranges from 0.5 pg/mL to 1 μg/mL, with a limit of detection of 0.4 pg/mL because of the complementary effect of PANI/CNT. The fabricated aptasensor also exhibited good stability in biological conditions, selectivity, and reproducibility after several measurement times after the dissociation process. Thus, it could be applied for the non-invasive determination of VEGF, in biological fluid diagnosis kits, or in an aptamer-based biosensor platform in the near future.


Biosensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Donggee Rho ◽  
Seunghyun Kim

An optical cavity-based biosensor (OCB) has been developed for point-of-care (POC) applications. This label-free biosensor employs low-cost components and simple fabrication processes to lower the overall cost while achieving high sensitivity using a differential detection method. To experimentally demonstrate its limit of detection (LOD), we conducted biosensing experiments with streptavidin and C-reactive protein (CRP). The optical cavity structure was optimized further for better sensitivity and easier fluid control. We utilized the polymer swelling property to fine-tune the optical cavity width, which significantly improved the success rate to produce measurable samples. Four different concentrations of streptavidin were tested in triplicate, and the LOD of the OCB was determined to be 1.35 nM. The OCB also successfully detected three different concentrations of human CRP using biotinylated CRP antibody. The LOD for CRP detection was 377 pM. All measurements were done using a small sample volume of 15 µL within 30 min. By reducing the sensing area, improving the functionalization and passivation processes, and increasing the sample volume, the LOD of the OCB are estimated to be reduced further to the femto-molar range. Overall, the demonstrated capability of the OCB in the present work shows great potential to be used as a promising POC biosensor.


Author(s):  
Antonia Perju ◽  
Nongnoot Wongkaew

AbstractLateral flow assays (LFAs) are the best-performing and best-known point-of-care tests worldwide. Over the last decade, they have experienced an increasing interest by researchers towards improving their analytical performance while maintaining their robust assay platform. Commercially, visual and optical detection strategies dominate, but it is especially the research on integrating electrochemical (EC) approaches that may have a chance to significantly improve an LFA’s performance that is needed in order to detect analytes reliably at lower concentrations than currently possible. In fact, EC-LFAs offer advantages in terms of quantitative determination, low-cost, high sensitivity, and even simple, label-free strategies. Here, the various configurations of EC-LFAs published are summarized and critically evaluated. In short, most of them rely on applying conventional transducers, e.g., screen-printed electrode, to ensure reliability of the assay, and additional advances are afforded by the beneficial features of nanomaterials. It is predicted that these will be further implemented in EC-LFAs as high-performance transducers. Considering the low cost of point-of-care devices, it becomes even more important to also identify strategies that efficiently integrate nanomaterials into EC-LFAs in a high-throughput manner while maintaining their favorable analytical performance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (05) ◽  
pp. 2041004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Li ◽  
Yanxian Guo ◽  
Binggang Ye ◽  
Zhengfei Zhuang ◽  
Peilin Lan ◽  
...  

Two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have captured an increasing attention in biophotonics owing to their excellent optical features. Herein, 2D hafnium ditelluride (HfTe[Formula: see text], a new member of transition metal tellurides, is exploited to support gold nanoparticles fabricating HfTe2-Au nanocomposites. The nanohybrids can serve as novel 2D surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate for the label-free detection of analyte with high sensitivity and reproducibility. Chemical mechanism originated from HfTe2 nanosheets and the electromagnetic enhancement induced by the hot spots on the nanohybrids may largely contribute to the superior SERS effect of HfTe2-Au nanocomposites. Finally, HfTe2-Au nanocomposites are utilized for the label-free SERS analysis of foodborne pathogenic bacteria, which realize the rapid and ultrasensitive Raman test of Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella with the limit of detection of 10 CFU/mL and the maximum Raman enhancement factor up to [Formula: see text]. Combined with principal component analysis, HfTe2-Au-based SERS analysis also completes the bacterial classification without extra treatment.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanying Liang ◽  
Ting Guo ◽  
Lei Zhou ◽  
Andreas Offenhäusser ◽  
Dirk Mayer

The detection of chemical messenger molecules, such as neurotransmitters in nervous systems, demands high sensitivity to measure small variations, selectivity to eliminate interferences from analogues, and compliant devices to be minimally invasive to soft tissue. Here, an organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) embedded in a flexible polyimide substrate is utilized as transducer to realize a highly sensitive dopamine aptasensor. A split aptamer is tethered to a gold gate electrode and the analyte binding can be detected optionally either via an amperometric or a potentiometric transducer principle. The amperometric sensor can detect dopamine with a limit of detection of 1 μM, while the novel flexible OECT-based biosensor exhibits an ultralow detection limit down to the concentration of 0.5 fM, which is lower than all previously reported electrochemical sensors for dopamine detection. The low detection limit can be attributed to the intrinsic amplification properties of OECTs. Furthermore, a significant response to dopamine inputs among interfering analogues hallmarks the selective detection capabilities of this sensor. The high sensitivity and selectivity, as well as the flexible properties of the OECT-based aptasensor, are promising features for their integration in neuronal probes for the in vitro or in vivo detection of neurochemical signals.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (15) ◽  
pp. 3055-3060 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Primiceri ◽  
Maria Serena Chiriacò ◽  
Francesco de Feo ◽  
Elisa Santovito ◽  
Vincenzina Fusco ◽  
...  

We realized an innovative biosensing platform with high sensitivity, low-cost and label-free features forS. aureusandL. monocytogenesdetection from meat.


Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1423
Author(s):  
Zhen Gu ◽  
Jing-Jing Luo ◽  
Le-Wei Ding ◽  
Bing-Yong Yan ◽  
Jia-Le Zhou ◽  
...  

Digital microfluidic (DMF) has been a unique tool for manipulating micro-droplets with high flexibility and accuracy. To extend the application of DMF for automatic and in-site detection, it is promising to introduce colorimetric sensing based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), which have advantages including high sensitivity, label-free, biocompatibility, and easy surface modification. However, there is still a lack of studies for investigating the movement and stability of AuNPs for in-site detection on the electrowetting-based digital microfluidics. Herein, to demonstrate the ability of DMF for colorimetric sensing with AuNPs, we investigated the electrowetting property of the AuNPs droplets on the hydrophobic interface of the DMF chip and examined the stability of the AuNPs on DMF as well as the influence of evaporation to the colorimetric sensing. As a result, we found that the electrowetting of AuNPs fits to a modified Young–Lippmann equation, which suggests that a higher voltage is required to actuate AuNPs droplets compared with actuating water droplets. Moreover, the stability of AuNPs was maintained during the processing of electrowetting. We also proved that the evaporation of droplets has a limited influence on the detections that last several minutes. Finally, a model experiment for the detection of Hg2+ was carried out with similar results to the detections in bulk solution. The proposed method can be further extended to a wide range of AuNPs-based detection for label-free, automatic, and low-cost detection of small molecules, biomarkers, and metal ions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Liu ◽  
Taotao Li ◽  
Gaojian Yang ◽  
Yan Deng ◽  
Xianbo Mou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Chlorpyrifos (Chl) is an organophosphorus pesticide, which has toxicity to environment, animals and human beings. To overcome the shortages of traditional detection methods of small molecular, this study aimed to develop a sensitive, simple, low cost and on-site rapid method for Chl analysis and detection. Thus, we developed a simple label-free gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) based colorimetric biosensor aptasensor for Chl detection using an aptamer as the caputure probe. Results The Chl-aptamer with low dissociation constant (Kd) of 58.59 ± 6.08 (nM) was selected by ssDNA library immobilized systematic evolution of ligands by enrichment (SELEX). In the absence of Chl, the Chl-aptamer acted as the stabilizer for AuNPs in salt solution. In the presence of Chl, the highly specific Chl-aptamer bound with Chl targets immediately thus a self-aggregation of AuNPs induced by salt was displayed. The fabricated colorimetric aptasensor exhibited an excellent sensitivity for Chl detection with the limit of detection as low as 14.46 nM. In addition, the aptasensor was applied to test Chl in tap water, cucumber and cabbage samples, which showed satisfying results with excellent recovery values between 96.2% and 105.6% and acceptable RSD values below 5%. Conclusions The developed colorimetric aptasensor can serve as a promising candidate for Chl detection in the area of biosensors, which also showed a great potential in simple, cheap and rapid detection of Chl.


Nanomedicine ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-335
Author(s):  
Li Gao ◽  
Wenwen Xiang ◽  
Zebin Deng ◽  
Keqing Shi ◽  
Huixing Wang ◽  
...  

Aim: The current work highlighted a novel colorimetric sensor based on aptamer and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)-gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) that was developed for cocaine detection with high sensitivity. Materials & methods: Due to the presence of the plasmon resonance band on the surface of AuNPs, AuNPs aggregated and the color was changed from red to blue after adding a certain concentration of NaCl. We used MoS2 to optimize the sensing system of AuNPs. The folded conformation of the aptamer in combination with cocaine enhanced the salt tolerance of the MoS2-AuNPs, effectively preventing their aggregation. Results & conclusion: The detection limit of cocaine was 7.49 nM with good selectivity. The method based on MoS2-AuNPs colorimetry sensor is simple, quick, label-free and low cost.


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