Aery, S orcid.org/0000-0001-7063-2343, Parry, A, Araiza Calahorra, A et al. (4 more authors) (2023) Ultra-stable liquid crystal droplets coated by sustainable plant-based materials for optical sensing of chemical and biological analytes. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 11 (17). pp. 5831-5845. ISSN 2050-7526
Abstract
Herein, we demonstrate for the first time the synthesis of ultra-stable, spherical, nematic LC droplets of narrow size polydispersity coated by sustainable, biodegradable, plant-based materials that trigger a typical bipolar-to-radial configurational transition in dynamic response to chemical and biological analytes. Specifically, a highly soluble polymer, potato protein (PoP) and a physically-crosslinked microgel (PoPM) of ~100 nm in diameter, prepared from the PoP, a byproduct of starch industry, were compared for their ability to coat LC droplets. Although both PoP and PoPM were capable of reducing interfacial tension between water and n-tetradecane < 30 mN/m, PoPM-coated LC droplets showed better stability than the PoP-coated droplets via a Pickering-like mechanism. Strikingly, the Pickering LC droplets outperformed PoP-stabilized droplets in terms of dynamic response with 5× lower detection limit to model chemical analytes (sodium dodecyl sulphate, SDS) due to difference in SDS-binding features between the protein and the microgel. To eliminate the effect of size polydispersity on response, monodisperse Pickering LC droplets of diameter ~ 16 μm were additionally obtained using microfluidics, which mirrored the response to chemical as well as biological analytes i.e. primary bile acid, an important biomarker of liver diseases. We demonstrate that these eco-friendly microgels used for creating monodisperse, ultra-stable, LC complex colloids are powerful templates for fabricating next generation, sustainable optical sensors for early diagnosis in clinical settings and other sensing applications.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. |
Keywords: | Bile acid; Emulsifier; Liquid crystal; Microfluidics; Microgel; Plant protein |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Food Science and Nutrition (Leeds) > FSN Colloids and Food Processing (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EU - European Union 757993 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 18 Apr 2023 08:46 |
Last Modified: | 17 Jan 2025 12:52 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Royal Society of Chemistry |
Identification Number: | 10.1039/d3tc00598d |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:198241 |