POLYELECTROLYTE AND MOLECULAR HOST ION SELF-ASSEMBLY TO MULTILAYER THIN-FILMS - AN APPROACH TO THIN-FILM CHEMICAL SENSORS

Multilayer molecular films of polyelectrolyte/calixarene and polyelect rolyte/cyclodextrin hosts were fabricated by alternating adsorption of charged species in aqueous solutions onto a substrate (quartz or sili con wafer). This layer-by-layer molecular deposition approach has been successfully used to integrate molecular recognition reagents into po lymer films as chemically selective layers for surface acoustic wave ( SAW) chemical sensing applications. The resulting sensors have high se nsitivity and selectivity to the organic vapors studied. The films wer e characterized with SEM, infrared and W-vis spectroscopy, and monitor ed by SAW devices. These measurements revealed that the deposition pro cess is highly reproducible and the resulting films are uniform and st able. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.