title: Polydiacetylene-supported silica films formed at the air/water interface.
abstract: Mesostructured silica films have attracted interest as potential platforms for sensing, molecular sieving, catalysis, and others. The fabrication of free-standing silica films on water, however, is challenging due to the need for scaffolding agents that would constitute effective templates. We describe the assembly of thin film at the air/water interface comprising quaternary silicates and polydiacetylene (PDA), a unique chromatic polymer forming two-dimensional conjugated networks, and the use of these films for biological sensing. PDA exhibits a dual role in the system-both as the amphiphilic matrix facilitating immobilization of the silicate colloidal units at the air/water interface and additionally a chromatic reporter that undergoes visible blue-red transitions, accompanied by fluorescence transformations, in the presence of analytes. We demonstrate the application of the silicate/PDA thin films for the detection of bacterial proliferation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Ilse Katz Institute for Nanotechnology, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel.
authors.forename: Yelena
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Demikhovsky
authors.forename: Sofiya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kolusheva
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Geyzer
authors.forename: Raz
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jelinek
mesh_terms: D000388:Air / Q000032:analysis*; D005453:Fluorescence; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D000078789:Polyacetylene Polymer; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D053279:Polyynes / Q000737:chemistry*; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000078789:Polyacetylene Polymer; D011108:Polymers; D014867:Water; D053279:Polyynes; C082361:polydiacetylene; D012822:Silicon Dioxide