Sensitive Biosensor Based on Cholesteric Mesophase

DOI: 10.5176/2301-3516_OPAP16.4

Authors: Yu-Chien Sung, Yu-Cheng Hsiao, and Wei Lee and Mon-Juan Lee

Abstract:

Current studies of liquid crystal (LC)-based biosensing focus mainly on texture observations of nematic mesophases. Such biosensors provide qualitative results and yet lack accurate quantitation. In this study we report on a distinctive mechanism underlying the working principle of an alternative type of LCbased biosensors. The use of cholesteric LC (CLC) enables the measurement of concentrations of biomolecules such as bovine serum albumin (BSA). The helical pitch of CLC expectedly varies in the presence of various concentrations of BSA, giving rise to different transmission spectra in the visible and, in turn, the corresponding color appearance. This new quantitative approach proposed in this work outperforms the conventional texture- observation method. A detection limit of 1 fgml1 has been observed.

Keywords: Cholesteric liquid crystals (CLC), Bovine serum albumin (BSA), Biosensors, Protein, Spectroscopy