Coating of modified plastic optical fibers with proteins for chemical sensing and biosensing: preliminary studies

Plastic Optical Fibers (POFs) are becoming popular for the development of sensors with multiple applications. In this work, we report a preliminary study related with the coating of modified POFs with proteins. Samples of POF were immersed in buffer and in proteins’ solutions under different experimental conditions: modification of the POF sample, immersion time, temperature, buffer solution and concentration of protein. A simple and easy methodology using protein staining solution was performed to confirm the coating of the POFs with proteins and to evaluate the dependency with the experimental conditions. Further developments will be focused on the coating of POFs with modified proteins for the selective detection of contaminants in water contributing to the development of low-cost POF chemical sensors and biosensors.