Integrated 3D hydrogel waveguide out-coupler by step-and-repeat thermal nanoimprint lithography : A promising sensor device for water and pH
Francone, Achille (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Kehoe, Timothy (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Obieta, Isabel (Tecnalia Research & Innovation)
Sáez Martínez, Virginia (Tecnalia Research & Innovation)
Bilbao, Leire (Tecnalia Research & Innovation)
Khokhar, Ali Z. (University Glasgow)
Gadegaard, Nikolaj (University Glasgow)
Delgado Simao, Claudia (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Kehagias, Nikolaos (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Sotomayor Torres, Clivia M. (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)

Date:	2018
Abstract:	Hydrogel materials offer many advantages for chemical and biological sensoring due to their response to a small change in their environment with a related change in volume. Several designs have been outlined in the literature in the specific field of hydrogel-based optical sensors, reporting a large number of steps for their fabrication. In this work we present a three-dimensional, hydrogel-based sensor the structure of which is fabricated in a single step using thermal nanoimprint lithography. The sensor is based on a waveguide with a grating readout section. A specific hydrogel formulation, based on a combination of PEGDMA (Poly(Ethylene Glycol DiMethAcrylate)), NIPAAm (N-IsoPropylAcrylAmide), and AA (Acrylic Acid), was developed. This stimulus-responsive hydrogel is sensitive to pH and to water. Moreover, the hydrogel has been modified to be suitable for fabrication by thermal nanoimprint lithography. Once stimulated, the hydrogel-based sensor changes its topography, which is characterised physically by AFM and SEM, and optically using a specific optical set-up.
Grants:	European Commission 214249 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad FIS2015-70862-P Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad SEV-2013-0295
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Hydrogel ; Waveguide ; Thermal nanoimprint lithography ; Water sensor ; PH sensor
Published in:	Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), Vol. 18, Issue 10 (October 2018) , art. 3240, ISSN 1424-8220

DOI: 10.3390/s18103240
PMID: 30261650

12 p, 3.6 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles