Bhavsar Kaushalkumar, Ross Duncan, Prabhu Radhakrishna, Pollard Pat
IDEAS Research Institute, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK.
IDEAS Research Institute, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK;
Nano Rev. 2015 Apr 7;6:26711. doi: 10.3402/nano.v6.26711. eCollection 2015.
Wettability is an important property of solid materials which can be controlled by surface energy. Dynamic control over the surface wettability is of great importance for biosensing applications. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a biocompatible material suitable for biosensors and microfluidic devices. Nanowires of ZnO tend to show a hydrophobic nature which decelerates the adhesion or adsorption of biomolecules on the surface and, therefore, limits their application.
Surface wettability of the ZnO nanowires can be tuned using light irradiation. However, the control over wettability using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the role of wavelength in controlling the wettability of ZnO nanowires are unclear. This is the first report on LED-based wettability control of nanowires, and it includes investigations on tuning the desired wettability of ZnO nanowires using LEDs as a controlling tool.
The investigations on spectral properties of the LED emission on ZnO nanowires' wettability have shown strong dependency on the spectral overlap of LED emission on ZnO absorption spectra. Results indicate that LEDs offer an advanced control on dynamically tuning the wettability of ZnO nanowires.
The spectral investigations have provided significant insight into the role of irradiating wavelength of light and irradiation time on the surface wettability of ZnO nanowires. This process is suitable to realize on chip based integrated sensors and has huge potential for eco-friendly biosensing and environmental sensing applications.
润湿性是固体材料的一项重要特性，可通过表面能进行控制。对表面润湿性进行动态控制在生物传感应用中具有重要意义。氧化锌（ZnO）是一种适用于生物传感器和微流控装置的生物相容性材料。ZnO纳米线往往表现出疏水性，这会减缓生物分子在其表面的黏附或吸附，因此限制了它们的应用。
可通过光照射来调节ZnO纳米线的表面润湿性。然而，利用发光二极管（LED）对润湿性进行的控制以及波长在控制ZnO纳米线润湿性方面的作用尚不清楚。这是关于基于LED对纳米线润湿性控制的首份报告，其中包括将LED用作控制工具来调节ZnO纳米线所需润湿性的研究。
关于LED发射光谱特性对ZnO纳米线润湿性影响的研究表明，其强烈依赖于LED发射光谱与ZnO吸收光谱的光谱重叠。结果表明，LED在动态调节ZnO纳米线润湿性方面提供了先进的控制手段。
光谱研究为光的照射波长和照射时间对ZnO纳米线表面润湿性的作用提供了重要见解。该过程适用于实现基于芯片的集成传感器，在环保型生物传感和环境传感应用方面具有巨大潜力。
