Effect of passivation on the sensitivity and stability of pentacene transistor sensors in aqueous media

Charge-detecting biosensors have recently become the focal point of biosensor research, especially research onto organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs), which combine compactness, a low cost, and fast and label-free detection to realize simple and stable in vivo diagnostic systems. We fabricated organic pentacene-based bottom-contact thin-film transistors with an ultra-thin insulating layer of a cyclized perfluoro polymer called CYTOP (Asahi Glass Co., Tokyo, Japan) on SiO2 for operation in aqueous media. The stability and sensitivity of these transistor sensors were examined in aqueous buffer media with solutions of variable pH levels after the passivation of perfluoro polymers with thicknesses ranging from 50 to 300 nm. These transistor sensors were further modified with an ultra-thin film (5 nm) functional layer for selective BSA/antiBSA detection in aqueous buffer media, demonstrating a detection capability as low as 500 nM of concentrated antiBSA. The dissociation constant from the antiBSA detection results was 2.1 × 10−6 M. Thus, this study represents a significant step forward in the development of organic electronics for a disposable and versatile chemical and bio-sensing platform.