Protein-assisted conjugated polymer microarray: Fabrication and sensing applications

A new strategy is performed to fabricate conjugated polymer microarray with the assistance of protein in this work. The water-soluble cationic conjugated polymer employed in the present work is capable of absorbing light at 510 nm, which makes it compatible with a variety of commercial microarray scanners. It is demonstrated that the protein-assisted conjugated polymer microarray exhibits higher fluorescence signal and better stability in comparison with the case without protein. The conjugated polymer microarray can be used for sensitive detection of picric acid (PA). A major advantage of our approach is its simplicity and chemical linking is not required between the conjugated polymer and microarray substrate. Considering the simplicity of the preparation of the conjugated polymer microarray, it is anticipated that novel sensing platforms will be constructed by employing this versatile method.