Functionalized photonic crystal for the sensing of Sarin agents

The indiscriminate use of nerve agents by terrorist groups has attracted attention of the scientific communities toward the development of novel sensor technique for these deadly chemicals. A photonic crystal (PhC) hydrogel immobilized with butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) was firstly prepared for the sensing of Sarin agents. Periodic polystyrene colloidal (240 nm) array was embedded inside an acrylamide hydrogel, and then BuChE was immobilized inside the hydrogel matrix via condensation with 3-(diethoxyphosphoryloxy)−1,2,3-benzotriazin-4(3 h)-one (DEPBT). It indicated that a total of 3.7 units of BuChE were immobilized onto the PhC hydrogel. The functionalized hydrogel recognized the Sarin agent and then shrunk, thus the diffraction of PhC hydrogel blue shifted significantly, and a limit of detection (LOD) of 10⁻¹⁵ mol L⁻¹ was achieved.