Smart Bandage - A Hydrogel Supported Optical Microcavity Sensor

摘要

Porous silicon is a versatile material that is being exploited in numerous biomedical applications ranging from biosensing, drug delivery and tissue engineering. These applications exploit the exceedingly high internal surface area, the ability to tune pore morphology (porosity and pore diameter) and to tailor the silicon surface biochemical reactivity. In our laboratory we are developing a novel biosensor concept called a Smart bandage, which is comprised of an optical microcavity sensor membrane mounted in a flexible hydrogel support. Successful exploitation of porous silicon in this biosensor application hinges on our ability optimize the intrinsic microcavity sensitivity response and to fabricate sensors with pore diameters that enable facile infiltration of biomolecular reagents throughout the porous matrix. In addition, a thorough understanding of the critical parameters and trade-offs that impact detection sensitivity must be elucidated in order to achieve an optimum composite design. In this paper we introduce these trade-offs and focus on pore size optimization for which we demonstrate a high degree of fabrication control. Our success in tailoring the morphology and optical properties of porous silicon suggests that this material can be leverage in additional biomedical applications such as the design of scaffolds for tissue engineering or biofiltration and optical devices for cell grow monitoring.