Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 13
Conducting Polymer Nanomaterial-Based
Sensor Platform for Bioelectronic Nose
Oh Seok Kwon and Jyongsik Jang
Abstract
Significant efforts in the fabrication of conducting polymer (CP) nano-
materials have enabled various electronic devices such as solar cells, memory
devices, batteries, and field-effect transistors (FETs). Specifically, well-designed
one-dimensional (1D) CP nanostructures have gained attention in various biosens-
ing applications due to their 1D geometry, which can facilitate efficient charge-
transfer behavior and signal amplification. Recently, researchers have demonstrated
various nanomaterial-based odorant sensing geometries with sensitivity and selec-
tivity. Although these conventional odorant sensing platforms provide significant
and sensitive performance, limitations such as low sensitivity, slow response time,
and an unstable platform in the liquid state remain as challenges. Herein, we devel-
oped a novel fabrication process for functionalized 1D CP nanomaterials, conju-
gated with human olfactory receptors (hORs), a so-called “bioelectronic nose”
(B-nose), through an immobilization process. The sensing platforms using 1D CP
nanomaterials were integrated into a liquid-ion gated FET system, resulting in the
development of a high-performance FET-type B-nose. Real-time responses from the
B-nose were monitored with ultrasensitive and selective responses at unprecedent-
edly low concentrations of the target odorant. The B-nose also showed single-atom-
resolution for target odorants among similar non-target odorants. Moreover, the 1D
CP nanomaterial-based B-nose can discriminate target odorants in the gaseous state,
with sensing capability comparable to that of a human expert's nose. The B-nose
opens the possibility for efficient methodology for smell mechanism studies. Based
on these results, the study of the B-nose using 1D CP nanomaterials opens up chal-
lenging research opportunities including these related to the food industry, disease
diagnosis, and public safety.
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