TY - JOUR
T1 - Ion track-based urea sensing
AU - Fink, Dietmar
AU - Hernandez, Gerardo Muñoz
AU - Alfonta, Lital
N1 - Funding Information: D.F. thanks the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Iztapalapa, México City, for the guest professorship within the Cathedra Marcos Mazari Menzer framework. We are especially obliged to Profs. S.A. Cruz and Mr. N. Camarillo from UAM-Iztapalapa and J.C. Terán from UAM-Cuajimalpa, for their continuous help and discussions and for providing us with adequate working facilities. We are further obliged to Dr. P. Apel from JNRI Dubna, Russia for providing us with the ion-irradiated foils. L.A. acknowledges the support of the Edmond J. Safra Center for the Design and Engineering of Functional Biopolymers at Ben-Gurion University.
PY - 2011/8/10
Y1 - 2011/8/10
N2 - A highly sensitive urea biosensor is described. We employed polymer foils which are thin, swift heavy ion-irradiated polycarbonate foils, followed by etching. The examined geometrical arrangement is of 1 foil, two compartments system. One electrode is placed in each compartment and a sinusoidal voltage is applied to the system. The enzyme urease is attached to the inner walls of the etched ion tracks in the foil, and one of the compartments is filled with urea solution of variable concentrations which can then interact with the enzyme, resulting in a change of track resistance. These results are compared with those obtained using a simple, non-confined urea/urease mixture. We report that this strategy, where the enzyme is bound to the etched track walls, is very efficient, as it demonstrates very high sensitivity. In this system, urea can be detected at a concentration as low as 1 × 10-7 M. The sensor is, moreover, still active at a concentration of 1 M urea. The currents associated with each concentration differ by a factor of 10.
AB - A highly sensitive urea biosensor is described. We employed polymer foils which are thin, swift heavy ion-irradiated polycarbonate foils, followed by etching. The examined geometrical arrangement is of 1 foil, two compartments system. One electrode is placed in each compartment and a sinusoidal voltage is applied to the system. The enzyme urease is attached to the inner walls of the etched ion tracks in the foil, and one of the compartments is filled with urea solution of variable concentrations which can then interact with the enzyme, resulting in a change of track resistance. These results are compared with those obtained using a simple, non-confined urea/urease mixture. We report that this strategy, where the enzyme is bound to the etched track walls, is very efficient, as it demonstrates very high sensitivity. In this system, urea can be detected at a concentration as low as 1 × 10-7 M. The sensor is, moreover, still active at a concentration of 1 M urea. The currents associated with each concentration differ by a factor of 10.
KW - Biosensor
KW - Ion tracks
KW - Polymers
KW - Urea
KW - Urease
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79957856801&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2011.04.054
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2011.04.054
M3 - Article
SN - 0925-4005
VL - 156
SP - 467
EP - 470
JO - Sensors and Actuators, B: Chemical
JF - Sensors and Actuators, B: Chemical
IS - 1
ER -