This paper describes the fabrication of polyaniline-based microsensors and microsensor arrays for the estimation of glucose, urea, and triglycerides. Microelectronics technology has been used to produce gold interdigitated microelectrodes on oxidized silicon wafers. Polymer deposition and enzyme immobilization has been done electrochemically. Electrochemical potential control has been used to direct enzyme immobilization to the chosen microelectrodes and prevent it at other microelectrodes in contact with the enzyme solution. This has enabled the immobilization of three different enzymes on three closely spaced microelectrodes, resulting in a sensor array which can analyze a sample containing a mixture of glucose, urea, and triolein in a single measurement using a few microliters of the sample. This strategy is quite general and can be extended to other enzyme-substrate systems to eventually produce an "electronic tongue".

This paper describes the fabrication of microtubular biosensors and sensor arrays based on polyaniline with superior transducing ability. These sensors have been tested for the estimation of glucose, urea, and triglycerides. As compared to that of a macro sensor, the response of the microtubular sensor for glucose is higher by a factor of more than 10(3). Isoporous polycarbonate membranes have been used to fabricate inexpensive devices by simple thermal evaporation of gold using appropriate machined masks. Polyaniline deposition and enzyme immobilization have been done electrochemically. Electrochemical potential control has been used to direct enzyme immobilization to the chosen membrane device and avoid cross talk with adjacent devices. This has enabled the immobilization of a set of three different enzymes on three closely spaced devices, resulting in a microtubule array that can analyze a sample containing a mixture of glucose, urea, and triglycerides in a single measurement. This, in essence, is an "electronic tongue".

No abstract

Polyaniline grown into pores of polycarbonate membrane has been shown to behave like a microelectrochemical transistor. The nature of the polycarbonate membrane results in a fraction of the polyaniline growing in an ordered and compact fashion along the walls of the pore. The switching properties of polyaniline grown into such pores changes significantly when the polycarbonate membrane is treated with a surfactant like Triton X 100. The polyaniline obtained in this case is largely disordered and open, with room for changes in conformation. This disordered material therefore shows larger changes in conductivity, about a factor of 10 2 larger, than the ordered material on switching from insulating to conducting state.