Surface imprinted macroporous film for high performance protein recognition in combination with quartz crystal microbalance

Macroporous protein imprinted films (porous-MIP) have been fabricated on the surface of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) using methyl methacrylate (MMA) as main monomer and trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TRIM) as a cross-linker. Macropores were generated by employing calcium carbonate nanoparticles as porogen. The imprinted special surface area and the quantity of the imprinted sites were increased by the formation of macropores on the films. Since the macropores were interconnected in structure, the mass transport and accessibility of protein to the active sites through the material were not affected. In comparison with the nonporous imprinted (nonporous-MIP) films, the porous-MIP films exhibited better affinity and selectivity to template, the binding capacity and mass sensitivity of the biosensor were enhanced. The rigid skeleton structure made the films durable in the recycled tests. The strategy proposed here is generally applicable for constructing high performance biosensor devices.