Functionalised porous silicon as a biosensor: emphasis on monitoring cells in vivo and in vitro

Abstract

Porous silicon photonics is the ideal platform for high sensitivity, high selectivity monitoring of biological molecules in a complex fluidic environment. The potential of this technology was identified almost 15 years ago, however, it has taken considerable advances in porous silicon surface chemistry, photonics, and micro-fabrication to create truly effective devices that can provide new insights into the behaviour of biological systems. In this review we provide a critical assessment of the development of porous silicon optical biosensors from the early demonstrations of affinity based sensing to the current trends in monitoring single cell activity and perspectives in the use of photonic microparticles for biomedical applications.

Label-Free Optical Biosensors Based on Aptamer-Functionalized Porous Silicon Scaffolds

“…In recent years, porous silicon (PSi) has emerged as a promising nanomaterial for the design of different optical label-free biosensing platforms, owing to its large surface area, versatile chemistry and straightforward fabrication [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] . PSi-based interferometers, in which a change in refractive index of the solution contained within the porous nanostructure can be measured, are most common and the technique is often referred to as reflective interferometric Fourier transform spectroscopy (RIFTS) 30,33,36,37 .…”

In Vivo Biosensing: Progress and Perspectives

“…80 This material can be fabricated using standard and scalable microfabrication procedures, with facile surface chemistry, and has been used to develop a range of interesting assays using near-infrared and infrared light for signal transduction. 81–82 …”

Control of the micrometric scale morphology of silicon nanowires through ion irradiation-induced metal dewetting

“…They are studied as promising platforms for applications in several fields covering optoelectronics, photonics, photovoltaics, energy storage, and biosensing [1][2][3][4][5]. Many techniques are currently used for their fabrication, based either on bottom-up [6] or top-down approach [7]: among them MetalAssisted Chemical Etching (MACE) is the most common, because it is simple, cheap, and suitable for large-scale manufacturing.…”