Imprinted Polymer Functionalized Concatenated Optical Microfiber: Hypersensitive and Selective

Optical interferometry integrated with molecularly imprinting polymer (MIP) can be an advanced futuristic approach for developing ultrasensitive and selective remote detection technology. This cohesive strategy has enormous potential for developing next-generation online biomolecule detection systems riding on the benefits of artificial complementary polymeric nanostructure with outstanding durability, easy synthesis process, and sustainability in harsh environmental conditions. Here, we have reported a label-free, hypersensitive, online, and selective biodetection method by combining a concatenated microfiber interferometer and an artificial molecular receptor-based imprinting technique to develop an imprinted polymer functionalized optical sensor for precise determination of water pollutant 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) in aqueous media with a dynamic detection range of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10^{-{12}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10^{-{4}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> M. The proposed imprinted polymer functionalized optical sensor exhibits a hypersensitivity of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$6.14\times 10^{{11}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> nm/M and a minimum detection limit of 1.628 fM. The compact size, fast response, repeatable behavior, and highly selective label-free detection nature of the developed system will pave a new path for selective biosensing, water quality monitoring, and environmental research applications.