Development of a fast and sensitive glucose biosensor using iridium complex-doped electrospun optical fibrous...

Polystyrene electrospun optical fibrous membrane (EOF) was fabricated using a one-step electrospinning technique, functionalized with glucose oxidases (GOD/EOF), and used as a quick and highly sensitive optical biosensor. Because of the doped iridium complex, the fibrous membrane emitted yellow luminescence (562 nm) when excited at 405 nm. Its luminescence was significantly enhanced with the presence of extremely low concentration glucose. The detection limit was of 1.0 × 10(-10) M (S/N = 3), superior to that of reported glucose biosensor with 1.2 × 10(-10) M. A linear range between the relative intensity increase and the logarithm of glucose concentration was exhibited from 3.0 × 10(-10) M to 1.3 × 10(-4) M, which was much wider than reported results. Notably, the response time was less than 1 s. These high sensitivity and fast response were attributed to the high surface-area-to-volume of the porous fibrous membrane, the efficient GOD biocatalyst reaction on the fibers surface, as well as the fast electron or energy transfer between dissolved oxygen and the optical fibrous membrane.