Simulation of perforated rectangular cantilever immunosensor for estimation of bacterial pathogens

Abstract

Micro fabricated and multilayered perforated cantilever beam immunosensor was modeled using CoventorWare for the estimation of bacterial antigens of Bacillus Anthrax, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Coryne Bacterium Diptheria and Treponema pallidum. A rectangular cantilever beam with perforations was simulated with dimensions as length-200 µm, width-10 µm and thickness-0.5 µm. Each perforation is rectangular with length-10 µm, width-5 µm and thickness-0.5 µm. The theoretical and FEM simulations were carried out with five immunoglobulin antibodies, IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG and IgM for the estimation of bacterial antigens. The effect of perforation in cantilever beam and molecular size of antibody and antigen on the performance of the sensor has been studied. The cantilever beam without perforation showed a deflection of 1.8 e + 02 µm whereas the cantilever beam with perforation showed an increase deflection of 1.9 e + 02 µm. With IgG, the difference between analytical and simulation values is positive and low especially with low molecular weight antigens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Treponema pallidum. The low molecular weight IgG influences the antigen-antibody interaction more fvourably. The simulated perforated rectangular cantilever beam with IgG antibody is a more promising model for the fabrication of a sensor for the estimation of highly motile Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Treponema pallidum.