Heterogeneous integration of Polymer Porous Photonic Bandgap Structure with Xerogel based Biochemical Sensors

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe report the heterogeneous integration of a multifunctional sensor based on polymer porous photonic bandgap (P3BG) structure and xerogel based luminescence sensor technology. The P3BG structure was fabricated using holographic interferometry. Initially, holographic interferometry of a photo-activated prepolymer syrup that included a volatile solvent as well as monomer, photoinitiator, and co-initiator was used to initiate photopolymerization. Subsequent UV curing resulted in well defined lamellae of the polymer separated by porous polymer regions that created a high quality photonic bandgap structure. The resulting P3BG structure was then integrated with the xerogel based luminescence element to produce a luminescence sensor with a selective narrow band reflector. The prototype xerogel based luminescence sensor element consisted of an O2 sensing material based on spin coated tetraethylorthosilane (TEOS) composite xerogel films containing tris (4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline) ruthenium (II) ([Ru(dpp)3]2+) luminophore. We demonstrated enhancement of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of this integrated multifunctional sensor while maintaining the same sensitivity to O2 sensing of the xerogel based element. The resulting advantages and enhanced SNR of this integrated sensor will provide a template for other luminescence based assays to support highly sensitive and cost-effective sensor systems for biomedical applications.