Development of molecularly imprinted polymer-based FET biosensor via oxidative chemical vapor deposition

Biosensors have been attracting an increasing interest in various fields including medical diagnosis and health monitoring due to its rapid, selective and sensitive detection of target analyte in real-time. As biological receptors require special environmental conditions, they limit the durability and long-term storage of the biosensors. However, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are artificially synthesized to mimic the recognition of biological macromolecules at a significantly lower cost and no need for any special storage. Here, we reported the usability of the polypyrrole (PPy) MIP as a synthetic biorecognition element on a FET based biosensor to detect CA-125 ovarian cancer biomarker. We used oxidative chemical vapor deposition (oCVD) technique which allows the conformal and controlled thin film conductive polymers, to produce MIP onto a sacrificial layer. Synthesized MIP then integrated onto the interdigitated electrode arrays to make a conductive bridge between source and drain terminals for the development of the FET biosensing platform. The oCVD technique has a great potential to be used in the development of MIP-based biosensors for the detection of target proteins without wasting as in the traditional bulk polymerization method.