A Cantilever Array Sensor Platform Guided by Optical Fibers and Its Sensing Application

Abstract

Abstract A cantilever array sensor platform was developed based on the optical lever method, and the cantilever array chip was also fabricated to introduce its applications on biochemical detection. Optical fibers coupled to lasers were used as the scanning light source. This sensor system had good stability, and the noise of the detection signal was about 2 nm. Meanwhile, the cantilevers of the fabricated chip had good straightness and were consistent to temperature response, and the deviations of the response sensitivity for cantilevers' temperature change were no more than 5.0%. This sensing system was used to detect Hg 2+ in aqueous solution within a concentration range of 1–200 ng mL −1 . The deflections of one array chip were close in the same concentration, and the average deviation was less than 15%. The samples with the concentrations of 1.0 and 0.2 ng mL −1 Hg 2+ were detected separately by the fabricated chip and a foreign commercial chip on the sensor platform. The result showed that it was difficult for the fabricated chip to achieve a higher detection sensitivity and necessary to improve the cantilever array production process.