Development of a piezo biosensor for pathogen-specific biopolymer detection using a self-assembly barium titanate/polyvinylidene fluoride composite material

Malaria, COVID-19, and other infectious diseases have been prevalent worldwide. The development of simpler, low cost and more sensitive isothermal genetic diagnostic methods will enable it to contribute to infectious disease measures. In this study, the improvement of the sensor will be aimed at detecting infectious diseases rapidly by combining the isothermal genetic diagnostic methods and the piezoelectric biosensor. The device of the piezoelectric biosensor using quartz is big and quartz is costly. In this study, the piezoelectric polymer (PVDF) biosensor was proposed since it can detect the biopolymer at a low frequency, and is not costly. The issues for the β-PVDF signal transducer sensor were extracted based on the investigation of the output properties of the sensor. To enhance the sensibility and temperature characteristics of β-PVDF issues, barium titanate (BaTiO3, BT)/PVDF composites were applied to the piezo biosensor. The relaxation behavior was shifted towards the low frequency due to the immobilization of the avidin on the piezoelectric sensor. Hence, the detection of avidin immobilization was feasible by the relaxation process of the β-PVDF sensor. The dipole and interface polarizations were created in the BT/PVDF composite due to the formation of the BT/PVDF/BT heterointerface in the self-assembly BT aggregates. The relaxation behavior of the BT/PVDF composite signal transducer sensor from room temperature to 338 K was verified. The sensibility and the temperature characteristics were improved. It is expected to use the biosensor with the BT/PVDF piezoelectric composite material for general biopolymer detection.