Large‐Area Virus Coated Ultrathin Colorimetric Sensors with a Highly Lossy Resonant Promoter for Enhanced Chromaticity

Abstract

Acclimatable colors in response to environmental stimuli, which are naturally endowed with some living things, can provide an opportunity for humans to recognize hazardous substances without taking empirical risks. Despite efforts to create artificial responsive colors, realistic applications in everyday life require an immediate/distinct colorimetric realization with wide chromatic selectivity. A dynamically responsive virus (M‐13 phage)‐based changeable coloring strategy is presented with a highly lossy resonant promoter (HLRP). An ultrathin M‐13 phage layer for rapid response to external stimuli displays colorimetric behavior, even in its subtle swelling with strong resonances on HLRP, which is modeled using the complex effective refractive index. Optimal designs of HLRP for several material combinations allow selective chromatic responsivity from the corresponding wide color palette without modification of the dynamic responsive layer. As a practical demonstration, the spatially designed colorimetric indicator, which is insensitive/sensitive to external stimuli, provides an intuitive perception of environmental changes with hidden/revealed patterns. Furthermore, the proposed colorimetric sensor is tested by exposure to various volatile organic chemicals and endocrine disrupting chemicals for versatile detectability, and is fabricated in a wafer‐scale sample for large‐area scalability.

Disordered-nanoparticle–based etalon for ultrafast humidity-responsive colorimetric sensors and anti-counterfeiting displays

“…The representative examples include a plasmonic system incorporated with metal hydrides varied by heat ( 7 ) and monoatomic gases ( 8 ); planar optical system with liquid crystal for detection of heat ( 9 ), pressure ( 9 ), or toxic gases ( 10 ); and Mie cavities composed of nanoporous titania for humidity sensing ( 11 , 12 ). Transparent hydrogels or polymers are widely selected as the active medium because they can absorb chemical substances such as moisture ( 13 , 14 ) or volatile gas ( 15 , 16 ) from their surroundings. When absorbing the substances, the hydrogels are swollen; such changes in physical geometries lead to the change of its optical properties as well.…”

Application of Bacteriophages in Nanotechnology

“…Bacteriophages were also used for the detection of other analytes, e.g., ions [ 45 ] or organic compounds (an example of the device is shown in Figure 3 B) [ 112 ]. Not only phage-displayed peptides [ 45 ] but also whole virions were used.…”

“…A color pattern was formed as a unique response value to a given analyte. A similar colorimetric method was used to detect the volatile organic chemicals and endocrine-disrupting chemicals [ 112 ].…”

“…Here, we demonstrate an example where the M13 phage layer rapidly responds to external factors (various volatile organic chemicals and endocrine-disrupting chemicals), displaying colorimetric behavior. Adapted from reference [ 112 ] based on the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0). ( C ) The monodispersity of virions and a variety of morphologies make phages great building blocks for scaffolds.…”

Mesoporous Solid and Yolk–Shell Titania Microspheres as Touchless Colorimetric Sensors with High Responsivity and Ultrashort Response Times

“…Popular designs have exploited planar geometries including single layers and Bragg stacks of polymeric films, Bragg stacks of inorganic layers, and graphene oxide multilayers . These designs show high humidity responsivities with large spectral peak shifts from moisture-induced volume swelling but are limited in speed due to the slow swelling and deswelling dynamics of the constituent film. ,− …”