SUBSTRATE IMPRINTED UNIVERSAL SENSORS AND SENSORS HAVING NON-TUNNELING EFFECT

摘要

A universal sensor fabrication approach, molecular substrate imprinting technique, which utilizes the interaction between molecular building blocks and the surface of a transducer to develop specific molecular recognition cavities has been established. Integration of molecular recognition cavities with the surface of a nanoscale transducer will result in a nano-tunneling effect that takes place which will provide a sensor or a device that exhibits new properties not already exhibited by either the molecular recognition cavities on a bulk transducer or the nanotransducer material. One of the new properties of this nano-tunneling effect is that a universal potentiometric molecular sensor can be fabricated and used to detect any compounds, whether they are ions or molecules, with enhanced selectivity, sensitivity, and stability when molecular recognition cavities or elements are integrated on the surface of a nanoscale transducer.

主权项

1. A sensor having the ability to detect molecules or other structures that is produced by a process of providing one or more molecules for use as molecular building blocks, providing a transducer substrate having a surface capable of interacting with the molecular building blocks, providing one or more template molecules which may include providing more than one kind of template molecule, providing one or more solvents to create a solvent solution, adding the molecular building blocks, the template molecules and the transducer substrate to the solvent solution to create a matrix on the transducer substrate, removing the transducer substrate containing the matrix from the solution, and rinsing the matrix with at least one solvent or solution to extract the template molecules thereby resulting in a substrate imprinted sensor having molecular recognition cavities for the template molecules wherein the substrate imprinted sensor possesses additional properties that are not present in the molecular recognition cavities or the transducer substrate.