Porous optical sensor with fiducial marker and method for detection of analytes
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsMichael J. Sailor, Anne M. Ruminski
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Abstract
The invention provides a porous sensor and sensing methods that use a porous sensor with a porous nanostructure having an optical response and having a portion of the porous nanostructure filled with a fiducial marker that is non-reactive to an analyte of interest. In a preferred sensing method, reflectance spectra from both the fiducial marker and reactive portions of the porous structure are acquired simultaneously. The fiducial marker provides an internal reference that permits compensation for humidity, as well as off angle measurements. In addition, simple visual observations can reveal the presence of an analyte, including human observations.
Claims17
A porous sensor, comprising nanoporous material that is reactive towards a chemical or biological analyte(s) of interest and, within the nanoporous material a region of pores that are filled with an inert fiducial marker that is substantially non reactive towards the chemical or biological analyte of interest.
A method of analyte sensing, the method comprising:
- introducing suspected analyte to a reactive nanoporous layer including a fiducial marker region including pores that are filled with an inert fiducial marker that is substantially non reactive to the suspected analyte;
- observing the reactive nanoporous layer and the fiducial marker region;
- determining the presence or absence of analyte based upon a change in reflection of the reactive nanoporous layer and the fiducial marker region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.