MOLECULAR SENSING USING PLASMA POLYMER THIN-FILM PROBES

A selective and sensitive molecular sensing system can be constructed by using plasma polymer films as the sensor probe and statistical molecular classification techniques. Plasma polymer films are likely to contain stable radical sites and conjugated moieties that can interact with target molecules. When quartz crystal microbalances are coated with these films, a dynamic piezoelectric response results, which can be classified using principal-component analysis. These responses reflect the sorption-desorption equilibrium of target molecules through specific interactions.