Integrated 3D Hydrogel Waveguide Out-Coupler by Step-and-Repeat Thermal Nanoimprint Lithography: A Promising Sensor Device for Water and pH: 
						
						A promising sensor device for water and pH

Francone, Achille; Kehoe, Timothy; Obieta, Isabel; Saez-Martinez, Virginia; Bilbao, Leire; Khokhar, Ali Z.; Gadegaard, Nikolaj; Delgado Simao, Claudia; Kehagias, Nikolaos; Sotomayor Torres, Clivia M.

Integrated 3D Hydrogel Waveguide Out-Coupler by Step-and-Repeat Thermal Nanoimprint Lithography: A Promising Sensor Device for Water and pH: A promising sensor device for water and pH

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sensors-18-03240.pdf (3.63 MB)

Identifiers

ISSN: 1424-3210

DOI: 10.3390/s18103240

Publication date

2018-10

Authors

Francone, Achille

Kehoe, Timothy

Obieta, Isabel

Saez-Martinez, Virginia

Bilbao, Leire

Khokhar, Ali Z.

Gadegaard, Nikolaj

Delgado Simao, Claudia

Kehagias, Nikolaos

Sotomayor Torres, Clivia M.

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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.

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Keywords

Hydrogel , Waveguide , Thermal nanoimprint lithography , Water sensor , pH sensor , Hydrogel , Waveguide , Thermal nanoimprint lithography , Water sensor , pH sensor , Analytical Chemistry , Information Systems , Biochemistry , Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics , Instrumentation , Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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journal article

Citation

Francone , A , Kehoe , T , Obieta , I , Saez-Martinez , V , Bilbao , L , Khokhar , A Z , Gadegaard , N , Delgado Simao , C , Kehagias , N & Sotomayor Torres , C M 2018 , ' Integrated 3D Hydrogel Waveguide Out-Coupler by Step-and-Repeat Thermal Nanoimprint Lithography: A Promising Sensor Device for Water and pH : A promising sensor device for water and pH ' , Sensors , vol. 18 , no. 10 , 3240 , pp. 3240 . https://doi.org/10.3390/s18103240

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