PNNL

Abstract

There is a critical need for highly sensitive, cost-effective sensors to conduct ecological analyses for environmental and homeland security related applicationsWe report here on a method which significantly overcomes this difficulty, and demonstrate its application in a biosensor for aquatic environmental applications. A fast-responding and stable biosensor was developed via immobilization of organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) in functionalized mesoporous silica (FMS) with pore sizes in tens of nanometers. The sensor was tested for detection of paraoxon in simulated environmental samples, under wide ranging physico-chemical conditions.