No abstract

A PAA-PBA/PVA functionalized thin core fiber (TCF) optical sensor is proposed for glucose detection. The unique Michelson type fiber interferometer sensor was fabricated by splicing a short segment of thin-core fiber (TCF) with single-mode fiber (SMF) where the tip of TCF was melted into a rounded shape. Phenylboronic acid-derivatized poly (acrylic acid), PAA-PBA, was synthesized by grafting PBA onto the PAA chain using N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) and 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) as coupling reagent. Multilayer films of PAA-PBA and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were subsequently functionalized onto the fiber-optic Michelson interferometer (MI) structure through layer-by-layer assembly. Experiments showed that the PAA-PBA/PVA functionalized fiber-optic probe exhibits glucose-sensitive behavior under physiological pH. The proposed sensor which offers benefits like simple fabrication, compact size and glucose selectivity has potential applications in a bio-device such as insulin release system.