A nonenzymic microfiber optic-biosensor modified phenylboric acid for sensitively and specifically detecting low glucose concentration

Abstract

A microfiber interferometer coated with sensitive films formed by amide bond between 3-Carboxy-4-fluorophenylboronic acid (FPBA) and polydopamine (PDA) for the detection of trace glucose concentration is designed and demonstrated. Due to a huge evanescent field, this microfiber interferometer has a very sensitive response to the refractive index (RI) of the surrounding environment, which has excellent sensing performance including RI sensitivity response of 1825.83 nm/RIU and low temperature response of −0.04 nm/°C. Due to the good film-forming performance of PDA, whose the amino group coupled with the carboxyl molecule on FPBA to form an amide bond, PDA/FPBA can be attached to the microfiber interferometer for detecting different concentrations of glucose. The concentration range of glucose detection is 0.1–20 mM with a sensitivity of 1.71 nm/mM and a limit of detection of 12.6 ppm. Finally, the sensor is tested in actual samples of human urine to detect different concentrations of glucose and proved to be responsive and reproducible in urine. We can estimate the concentration of glucose in urine by wavelength shift. The sensor has the advantages of simple manufacture, low cost, high sensitivity, and specific recognition glucose in urine. In addition, the success of this sensor shows that the combination of ultrafine fiber and organic chemical materials has broad prospects in the field of optical detection.