Magnetic Imprinted Polymer-Based Quartz Crystal Microbalance Sensor for Sensitive Label-Free Detection of Methylene Blue in Groundwater

Abstract

Tiny changes in the mass of the sensor in a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) can be observed. However, the lack of specificity for target species has hindered the use of QCM-D. Here, molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were used to modify a QCM-D sensor to provide specificity. The MIPs were formed in the presence of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate. Imprinted layers on Fe3O4 nanoparticles were formed using pyrrole as the functional monomer and cross-linker and methylene blue (MB) as a template. The MIPs produced were then attached to the surface of a QCM-D sensor. The MIPs-coated QCM-D sensor could recognize MB and gave a linear response in the concentration range 25 to 1.5 × 102 µg/L and a detection limit of 1.4 µg/L. The QCM-D sensor was selective for MB over structural analogs. The MIPs-coated QCM-D sensor was successfully used to detect MB in river water and seawater samples, and the recoveries were good. This is the first time MB has been detected using a QCM-D sensor. Mass is an intrinsic property of matter, so this method could easily be extended to other target species by using different MIPs.

Advances in Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Based Affinity Sensors (Review)

“…QCM-based methods were applied for the determination: (i) of low molecular weight analytes [ 240 , 241 ], including histamine [ 242 ], naproxen [ 243 ], ibuprofen [ 244 ], S -propranolol [ 245 ]; (ii) proteins [ 246 , 247 , 248 , 249 ], ribonuclease A [ 250 ], oxidized-low-density lipoprotein in blood serum [ 251 ] and trypsin [ 252 ]; (iii) DNA and [ 249 , 253 ]. More advanced QCM-based techniques such as electrochemical QCM (EQCM) [ 23 , 93 , 254 ] and QCM with dissipation (QCM-D) [ 255 ] were also applied for the determination of analytical signals generated by molecularly imprinted and not imprinted CPs-based sensors.…”

Electrochemically Deposited Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Sensors

“…QCM-based determination of the changes of the mass of the formed MIP layer can be simultaneously performed with electrochemical methods and can be used as an electrochemical-QCM (EQCM) method [15,96,237]. A more advantageous QCM-based technique, QCM with dissipation (QCM-D), was also used for the registration of analytical signal generated by MIP-modified resonators [238]. Various optical analytical signal registration methods, including photoluminescence [208,239] surface plasmon resonance (SPR) [240], can also be applied in MIP-based sensors.…”

Recent Advances in Quartz Crystal Microbalance Biosensors Based on the Molecular Imprinting Technique for Disease-Related Biomarkers

“…As a result, the stable and reusable properties have increased the long shelf-life usability of MIPs. Some studies reported the shelf life of MIPs is a minimum of 6 weeks [132] and a maximum of 6 [133] to 12 months [134] for MIP-based biosensors stored at 25 • C. This method is considered a versatile and hopeful technique that can recognize both biological and chemical analytes, including nucleotides [135], amino acids [136], enzymes [137], proteins [138], phosphoproteins [139], viruses [140], bacteria [141], pollutants [142], dyes [143], food poisons [144], pesticides [145], and toxins [146,147].…”