Pressure-driven fast reaction and recovery of peptide receptor for an electronic nose application

Abstract

Combining a highly sensitive sensor platform with highly selective recognition elements is essential for micro/nanotechnology-based electronic nose applications. Particularly, the regeneration sensor surface and its conditions are key issues for practical e-nose applications. We propose a highly sensitive piezoelectric-driven microcantilever array chip with highly selective peptide receptors. By utilizing the peptide receptor, which was discovered by a phase display screening process, we immobilized a dinitrotoluene (DNT) specific peptide as well as a DNT nonspecific peptide on the surface of the cantilever array. The delivery of DNT gas via pressure-driven flow led to a greater instant response of similar to 30 Hz, compared to diffusion only (similar to 15 Hz for 15 h). Using a simple pressure-driven air flow of similar to 50 sccm, we confirmed that a ratio of similar to 70% of the specific-bounded sites from DNT gas molecules could be regenerated, showing re-usability of the peptide receptor in on-site monitoring for electronic nose applications. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.