Glucose sensor using liquid-crystal droplets made by microfluidics

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2013 Dec 26;5(24):13135-9. doi: 10.1021/am404174n. Epub 2013 Nov 22.

Abstract

Micrometer-sized, 4-cyno-4-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) droplets were developed for glucose detection in an aqueous medium by coating with poly(acrylicacid-b-4-cynobiphenyl-4-oxyundecylacrylate) (PAA-b-LCP) at the 5CB/water interface and covalently immobilizing glucose oxidase (GOx) to the PAA chains. This functionalized liquid-crystal (LC) droplet detected glucose from a radial to bipolar configurational change by polarized optical microscopy under crossed polarizers at concentrations as low as 0.03 mM and response times of ~3 min and showed the selective detection of glucose against galactose. This new and sensitive LC-droplet-based glucose biosensor has the merits of low production cost and easy detection by the naked eye and might be useful for prescreening the glucose level in the human body.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biosensing Techniques / methods*
  • Glucose / isolation & purification*
  • Humans
  • Liquid Crystals / chemistry
  • Microfluidics*

Substances

  • Glucose