Facile method for modification of the silicon nanowires and its application in fabrication of pH-sensitive chips

A novel, facile, and effective method for modification of SiNWs or SiNW arrays has been developed. In this method, reaction between reductive Si-H bonds on the surface of SiNWs and the aldehyde group containing in organic molecules has been used for immobilization of organic molecules onto the surface of SiNW arrays. The method is time saving and can be operated at room temperature without any other complex reaction requirement. Fluorescence images, XPS, fluorescence spectra, and IR spectra were used for characterization of the modification. Through this method, a SiNW array-based pH sensitive chip was realized by covalently immobilizing 5-aminofluorescein molecules onto the surface of SiNW arrays with glutaraldehyde as linker molecules. Fluorescence intensity of the chip increased with increasing of pH value and a linear relationship between fluorescence intensity and pH values was acquired. In addition, the chip has been successfully used for real-time and in situ monitoring of extracellular pH changes for live HeLa cells and the result exhibited fine resolution of time and space.