All-organic microelectromechanical systems integrating specific molecular recognition--a new generation of chemical sensors

Abstract

Cantilever-type all-organic microelectromechanical systems based on molecularly imprinted polymers for specific analyte recognition are used as chemical sensors. They are produced by a simple spray-coating-shadow-masking process. Analyte binding to the cantilever generates a measurable change in its resonance frequency. This allows label-free detection by direct mass sensing of low-molecular-weight analytes at nanomolar concentrations.

Keywords: chemical sensors; microelectromechanical systems; microfabrication; molecularly imprinted polymers; organic materials.