title: Liquid crystals based sensing platform-technological aspects.
abstract: In bulk phase, liquid crystalline molecules are organized due to non-covalent interactions and due to delicate nature of the present forces; this organization can easily be disrupted by any small external stimuli. This delicate nature of force balance in liquid crystals organization forms the basis of Liquid-crystals based sensing scheme which has been exploited by many researchers for the optical visualization and sensing of many biological interactions as well as detection of number of analytes. In this review, we present not only an overview of the state of the art in liquid crystals based sensing scheme but also highlight its limitations. The approaches described below revolve around possibilities and limitations of key components of such sensing platform including bottom substrates, alignments layers, nature and type of liquid crystals, sensing compartments, various interfaces etc. This review also highlights potential materials to not only improve performance of the sensing scheme but also to bridge the gap between science and technology of liquid crystals based sensing scheme.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Sector H-12, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan. Electronic address: zakir.hussain@scme.nust.edu.pk.
authors.forename: Zakir
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Sector H-12, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Farah
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qazi
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Sector H-12, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Imran
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Sector H-12, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Adil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Usman
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Sector H-12, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Asim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Riaz
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Materials Engineering (SCME), National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Sector H-12, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Amna Didar
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Abbasi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D005947:Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000032:analysis; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D009696:Nucleic Acids; D011506:Proteins; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds; D005947:Glucose
keywords: Biomolecular assemblies; Biosensors; Detection; Liquid crystals; Toxic chemicals