Transducer-active Polymers: Responsive Materials in Chemical and Biological Sensors, Actuators, and Controlled Release.

Fall ACS National Meeting Washington DC August 20 - 25, 2000

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Organizers and Contact Information

Highlights of the Transducer-active Polymers Meeting

Topics include conductive polymers to enhance DNA biochip performance and the use of chemically responsive polymers to add sensitivity to amperometric chemical and biological sensors. In the area of drug delivery, chemically and electrically stimulated controlled release for bioactive molecules from hydrogels offer promise over passive release devices. Key speakers include Prof. Alan McDiarmind (UPENN) who will speak on the fabrication of chemical transducers with sub-micron dimensions, Prof. Gordon Wallace of the University of Wollongong, Australia, will talk about DNA-doped polypyrrole and its application in DNA diagnostics and Dr. Tom Zawodzinski of the Los Alamos National Laboratory who will talk about artificial muscle for biomedical applications.

Symposium organizers and contact information.

Symposium sessions.

Background to this symposium:

Polymers have generally played a significant but passive role in sensor and actuator devices -- as substrates, as encapsulants, as packaging materials and as aids in processing. Increasingly there is interest in polymer materials that serve as active components in solid state devices or as transduction elements in various sensors and actuators. This symposium, a follow-on to the successful 1994 symposium of the same name, brings up to date the increasing attention on polymer materials that are active components in sensors and actuators and the expanding area of stimulated controlled release.

Topics covered by this symposium:

Covered in this symposium are key issues such as: polymer material properties (electrical, electrochemical, electromechanical, and optical) that are appropriate for sensor and actuator application; polymer and organic thin film morphology and structure; transduction devices used in sensors (electrodes, microelectrode arrays, FETs, SAWs, microbalance, and fiber optic probes); sensor and actuator configurations using polymers such as in electronic noses, artificial taste and flavor sensors, and artificial muscles; sensor interrogation methods; and methods and procedures to confer sensor specificity, enhance actuator response, etc. Symposium coherence is found in the use of polymers and organic thin films that are functional parts of systems used as field-responsive components in various sensor and actuator applications. Such polymers are capable of directly transmuting one form of potential energy into another. Examples include the change in chemical potential energy of an analyte producing a corresponding change in electrical conductivity, electrode potential, or current in an electrically conducting polymer; the dimensional change in a redox active polymer upon oxidation or reduction producing actuation, the change in mass associated with a specific polymer-analyte binding reaction; or the change in water content of a field-responsive hydrogel.

The symposium will include aspects of the following: Preliminary outline of Sessions

Materials properties appropriate to transducer action: Ionogenicity; electrical conductivity; dimensional change; color change.

Methods to confer chemical and biological specificity: Occlusion; specific immobilization; the use of perm-selective coatings; and synthetic "receptors".

Methods of sensor interrogation: Optical fiber probes; crystal microbalance; electrical impedance; electrochemical methods; and electronic devices.

Various agents used to confer specificity: Biological agents such as enzymes, antibodies, receptors and DNA fragments; metal inclusions; inorganic catalysts; macrocycles; and other binding agents.

Aspects of surface science relevant to the use of transducer-active polymers: Methods of surface preparation; coating; and immobilization - onto solid state devices.

Aspects of technology related to transducer-active polymers: Reversibility; reproducibility; processing; stability; selectivity.

 

  Symposium Organizers

Anthony Guiseppi-Elie

Norman F. Sheppard

Gary E. Wnek