Electrolyte-Gated Organic Field-Effect Transistors for Quantitative Monitoring of the Molecular Dynamics of Crystallization at the Solid–Liquid Interface

Abstract

Quantitative measurements of molecular dynamics at the solid–liquid interface are of crucial importance in a wide range of fields, such as heterogeneous catalysis, energy storage, nanofluidics, biosensing, and crystallization. In particular, the molecular dynamics associated with nucleation and crystal growth is very challenging to study because of the poor sensitivity or limited spatial/temporal resolution of the most widely used analytical techniques. We demonstrate that electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistors (EGOFETs) are able to monitor in real-time the crystallization process in an evaporating droplet. The high sensitivity of these devices at the solid–liquid interface, through the electrical double layer and signal amplification, enables the quantification of changes in solute concentration over time and the transport rate of molecules at the solid–liquid interface during crystallization. Our results show that EGOFETs offer a highly sensitive and powerful, yet simple approach to investigate the molecular dynamics of compounds crystallizing from water.

Magnetic carbon gate electrodes for the development of electrolyte-gated organic field effect transistor bio-sensing platforms

“…In the last few years, these devices have also attracted considerable attention as electronic transducers in bio-sensing by using aqueous electrolytes. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Further, these organic-based devices are biocompatible and can be fabricated on flexible substrates using printing techniques. Thanks to these unique features, EGO-FETs provide both an excellent interface between electronics and biology and the possibility to fabricate low cost disposable devices.…”

Robust Microfluidic Integrated Electrolyte‐Gated Organic Field‐Effect Transistor Sensors for Rapid, In Situ and Label‐Free Monitoring of DNA Hybridization

“…[ 6,15 ] While some of these studies demonstrated real‐time sensing, including the quantification of changes in solute concentration over time and the transport rate of molecules at the solid–liquid interface during crystallization, none have explored the continuous monitoring of biomolecule recognition (i.e., binding of carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins). [ 16,17,11 ]…”

“…[6,15] While some of these studies demonstrated real-time sensing, including the quantification of changes in solute concentration over time and the transport rate of molecules at the solid-liquid interface during crystallization, none have explored the continuous monitoring of biomolecule recognition (i.e., binding of carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins). [16,17,11] In this work, a sensing platform based on an array of EGOFETs integrated with a microfluidic cell is demonstrated for real-time detection of the hybridization of DNA under a flowing electrolyte with <1 s temporal resolution. The array configuration was adopted because sensor platforms typically require parallel sensing to rapidly quantify multiple analytes in a single, precious biological sample, and to increase detection reliability for an individual analyte by using multiple replicates of individual devices on a single substrate.…”