New Ink Jet Approach Offers Simple Way To Print Microdisk Lasers For Biosensing
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Researchers have developed a unique inkjet printing method for fabricating tiny biocompatible polymer microdisk lasers for biosensing applications. The approach enables production of both the laser and sensor in a room temperature, open-air environment, potentially enabling new uses of biosensing technologies for health monitoring and disease diagnostics.
"The ability to use an inexpensive and portable commercial inkjet printer to fabricate a sensor in an ambient environment could make it possible to produce biosensors on-site as needed," said research team leader Hiroaki Yoshioka from Kyushu University in Japan. "This could help make biosensing widespread even in economically disadvantaged countries and regions, where it could be used for simple biochemical tests, including those for pathogen detection."
In The Optical Society (OSA) journal Optical Materials Express, the researchers describe the ability to print microdisk lasers as small as the diameter of a human hair from a specially developed polymer called FC-V-50. They also show that the microdisks can successfully be used for biosensing with the widely used biotin-avidin system.
"Our technique can be used to print on almost any substrate," said Yoshioka. "This means that it could one day be possible to print a sensor for health monitoring directly on the surface of a person's fingernail, for example."
Journal Reference:
Abdul nasir, Hiroaki Yoshioka, Nilesh vasa, et al. Fully room temperature and label free biosensing based on an ink-jet printed polymer microdisk laser [open], Optical Materials Express (DOI: 10.1364/OME.415000)
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