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Hydrogel-based microsensors for wireless chemical monitoring

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Abstract

We report fabrication and characterization of a new hydrogel-based microsensor for wireless chemical monitoring. The basic device structure is a high-sensitivity capacitive pressure sensor coupled to a stimuli-sensitive hydrogel that is confined between a stiff porous membrane and a thin glass diaphragm. As small molecules pass through the porous membrane, the hydrogel swells and deflects the diaphragm which is also the movable plate of the variable capacitor in an LC resonator. The resulting change in resonant frequency can be remotely detected by the phase-dip technique. Prior to hydrogel loading, the sensitivity of the pressure sensor to applied air pressure was measured to be 222kHz/kPa over the range of 41.9–51.1MHz. With a pH-sensitive hydrogel, the sensor displayed a sensitivity of 1.16MHz/pH for pH3.0–6.5, and a response time of 45 minutes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the staff of the Nanofabrication Center (NFC) of the University of Minnesota for their assistance. Many thanks go to Tingrui Pan, Woohyek Choi, Hao Hou, Yuandong Gu, and Zhihua Li for their valuable suggestions. Funding for this project was provided by US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity DA/DAMD17-02-1-0722 and by the National Institutes of Health, grant EB003215.

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Author notes

  1. Ming Lei

    Present address: Intel Corp, Chandler, AZ, USA

  2. Antonio Baldi

    Present address: Centro Nacional de Microelectronica (CNM-IMB, CSIC), Barcelona, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Ming Lei & Antonio Baldi

  2. Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Eric Nuxoll & Ronald A. Siegel

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Ronald A. Siegel

  4. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Babak Ziaie

  5. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    Babak Ziaie

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  1. Ming Lei
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  2. Antonio Baldi
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  4. Ronald A. Siegel
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Correspondence to Babak Ziaie.

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Lei, M., Baldi, A., Nuxoll, E. et al. Hydrogel-based microsensors for wireless chemical monitoring. Biomed Microdevices 11, 529–538 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-008-9168-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-008-9168-5

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