Regensburg 2016 – scientific programme

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MM: Fachverband Metall- und Materialphysik

MM 39: Biomaterials and Biopolymers I (joint session CPP/BP/MM)

MM 39.4: Talk

Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 16:00–16:15, H40

Poly(ethylene glycol) films and nanomembranes as flexible platform for humidity sensors and bioengineering — Musammir Khan and •Michael Zharnikov — Angewandte Physikalische Chemie, Universität Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

We discuss possible applications of novel poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogel films and membranes (PHFs and PHMs). They were fabricated by thermally activated crosslinking of amine- and epoxy-terminated, star-branched PEG oligomers and characterized by tunable thicknesses of 4 - 200 nm. As demonstrated, PHFs and PHMs can be used as highly sensitive elements in humidity sensors and moisture-responsive nanoelectronic devices, relying on resistive transduction technique. Their resistance change by ca. 5.5 orders of the magnitude upon relative humidity variation from 0 to 100%, which is unprecedented response for homogeneous materials. As another representative example, we show that PHFs and PHMs are able to host protein-specific receptors, providing, at the same time, protein-repelling and humidity-responsive matrix with a characteristic mesh size up to 8.4 nm. A noticeable grafting density of the test avidin protein, specifically attached to the biotin moieties coupled to the free amine groups in the PHMs, was achieved, whereas the analogous values for non-specifically adsorbed proteins were lower by a factor of 4-5. The engineering of PHMs with biomolecule-specific receptors and their loading with biomolecules are of potential interest for sensor fabrication and biomedical applications, including tissue engineering and regenerative therapy.