Micro and nanofabrication of molecularly imprinted polymers

Abstract

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are tailor-made receptors that possess the most important feature of biological antibodies and receptors - specific molecular recognition. They can thus be used in applications where selective binding events are of importance, such as chemical sensors, biosensors and biochips. For the development of microsensors, sensor arrays and microchips based on molecularly imprinted polymers, micro and nanofabrication methods are of great importance since they allow the patterning and structuring of MIPs on transducer surfaces. It has been shown that because of their stability, MIPs can be easily integrated in a number of standard microfabrication processes. Thereby, the possibility of photopolymerizing MIPs is a particular advantage. In addition to specific molecular recognition properties, nanostructured MIPs and MIP nanocomposites allow for additional interesting properties in such sensing materials, for example, amplification of electromagnetic waves by metal nanoparticles, magnetic susceptibility, structural colors in photonic crystals, or others. These materials will therefore find applications in particular for chemical and biochemical detection, monitoring and screening.