“Bio-switch Chip” Based on Nanostructured Conducting Polymer and Entrapped Enzyme

We report a switchable biochip method where enzymes were entrapped in conducting polymer layers and the enzymatic reaction of the entrapped enzymes was controlled in real-time via electrical stimuli on the polymer layers. This structure is named here as a “bio-switch chip” (BSC). As a proof of concepts, we fabricated BSC structures using polypyrrole (Ppy) with entrapped glucose oxidase (GOx) and demonstrated the switching of glucose oxidation reaction in real-time. We found that the application of a negative bias voltage on the BSC structure resulted in the enhanced glucose oxidation reaction by more than 20 times than that without a bias voltage. Moreover, because the BSC structures could be fabricated on specific regions on solid substrates, we could control the enzymatic reaction only on the regions. Since enzymes enable very useful and versatile biochemical reactions, the ability to control the enzymatic reactions via conventional electrical signals could open up various applications in the area of biochips and other biochemical industries.