Molecularly imprinted photonic polymers as sensing elements for the creation of cross-reactive sensor arrays

By combining molecular imprinting and colloidal crystal templating, molecularly imprinted inverse-opal photonic polymers (MIPPs) acting as sensing elements have been exploited to create sensor arrays for the first time. With this new strategy, abundant sensing elements with differential sensing abilities were easily accessible. Because of the unique hierarchical porous structure integrated in each sensing element, high sensitivity and selectivity, fast response and self-reporting (label-free) detection could be simultaneously achieved. All these fascinating features indicate that MIPPs are ideal sensing elements for creating sensor arrays. By integrating the individual sensing elements on a substrate, the formed array chip delivers better portability and high-throughput capability. As a demonstration, six kinds of contaminants were selected as analytes. The detection and discrimination of these analytes and even their mixtures in a wide range of concentrations, particularly trace amounts of analyte against a high background of other components, could be achieved, indicating the powerful capability of MIPPs-based sensor array for sensing. These results suggest that the described strategy opens a new route for sensor array creation and should find important applications in a wide range of areas. See if it fits! Molecularly imprinted inverse-opal photonic polymers are characterized by a series of distinct features, including facile synthesis with broad diversity, high sensitivity and selectivity, fast response, and self-reporting (label-free) signaling. It is found that such photonic polymers could be exploited as sensing elements for the efficient creation of sensory arrays with excellent discrimination power towards trace analytes and mixtures.