HIGHLY ADHERENT COATINGS FOR BIOSENSORS

NUMEROUS IMPLANTABLE BIOSENSORS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED, BUT NONE HAVE REACHED COMMERCIAL VIABILITY DUE TO SALINE CORROSION OVER EXTENDED PERIODS. A COATING TECHNIQUE IS PROPOSED WHICH WILL COMBINE THE STRONG ADHERENCE OF PLASMA POLYMERIZED THIN FILMS WITH THE EASE AND SIMPLICITY OF DIP COATINGS. DURING PHASE I, THE NOVEL TECHNIQUE WILL BE APPLIED TO BIOSENSOR PROBES AND LEADS. THE COATINGS WILL BE EVALUATED IN VITRO TO SIMULATE THE ACTUAL END-USE CONDITIONS. TESTINGWILL INCLUDE ADHESION, FLEXURE, AND ELECTRONIC EXPERIMENTS IN SOLUTIONS WHICH MIMIC PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS. IN ADDITION, A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE ECONOMICS OF INDUSTRIALAPPLICATION OF THE TECHNIQUE WILL BE PERFORMED.