Stimulus-sensitive hydrogels and their applications in chemical (micro)analysis.
In this tutorial review the use of stimulus-sensitive hydrogels as sensors and actuators for (micro)analytical applications is discussed. The first part of the article is aimed at making the reader familiar with stimulus-sensitive hydrogels, their chemical composition and their chemo-physical behavior. The prior art in the field, that comprises a number of sensors ranging from metal ion-sensitive sensors to antigen-sensitive sensors and a few actuators, is also treated in this part. The second part of the article focusses on the use of stimulus-sensitive hydrogels for microsensors and microactuators as well as their application in micro total analysis systems. The benefits of stimulus-sensitive hydrogels, their miniaturisation and the use of 365 nm UV-photolithography as a fast economical manufacturing technique are discussed.
Chair of Biosensors, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mesa+ Research Institute, Twente University, Drienerlolaan 5, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands. h.j.vanderlinden@el.utwente.nl
Heiko J
HJ
van der Linden
Sebastiaan
S
Herber
Wouter
W
Olthuis
Piet
P
Bergveld