Glucose sensor using liquid-crystal droplets made by microfluidics

Micrometer-sized, 4-cyno-4-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) droplets were developed for glucose detection in an aqueous medium by coating with poly(acrylicacid-b-4-cynobiphenyl-4-oxyundecylacrylate) (PAA-b-LCP) at the 5CB/water interface and covalently immobilizing glucose oxidase (GOx) to the PAA chains. This functionalized liquid-crystal (LC) droplet detected glucose from a radial to bipolar configurational change by polarized optical microscopy under crossed polarizers at concentrations as low as 0.03 mM and response times of ~3 min and showed the selective detection of glucose against galactose. This new and sensitive LC-droplet-based glucose biosensor has the merits of low production cost and easy detection by the naked eye and might be useful for prescreening the glucose level in the human body.