Organic Photodiodes for Biosensor Miniaturization

Biosensors have successfully demonstrated the capability to detect multiple pathogens simultaneously at very low levels. Miniaturization of biosensors is essential for use in the field or at the point of care. While microfluidic systems reduce the footprint for biochemical processing devices and electronic components are continually becoming smaller, optical components suitable for integration- such as LEDs and CMOS chips-are generally still too expensive for disposable components. This paper describes the integration of polymer diodes onto a biosensor chip to create a disposable device that includes both the detector and the sensing surface coated with immobilized capture antibody. We performed a chemiluminescence immunoassay on the OPD substrate and measured the results using a hand-held reader attached to a laptop computer. The miniaturized biosensor with the disposable slide including the organic photodiode detected Staphylococcal enterotoxin B at concentrations as low as 0.5 ng/mL.
Published in Analytical Chemistry, v81 n9 p3455-3461, 2009. Prepared in collaboration with Nanoldent Technologies AG, Linz, Austria.