Sejong Univ. unveils upgraded biosensor-related technology

South Korea’s Sejong University has developed a technology to sharply reduce the detection time of biomolecules produced by cells and living organisms, which is expected to facilitate the development of biosensors, the university said on Thursday.

Its physics and astronomy department recently unveiled an advanced model of the biopolar junction transistor (BJT), dubbed MoTe2/GeSe/MoTe2, using two-dimensional (2D) materials.

The latest BJT has improved its stability and sensitivity, thus significantly reducing the time for biosensors to detect the COVID-19 protein and other types of proteins. 

In the department's laboratory experiment, the device responded quickly to biomolecules with the concentration of 5pM, detecting the latter, called streptavidin, within just 10 seconds.

By comparison, a conventional BJT takes more than 80 minutes to detect biomolecules with a concentration below 10pM. The abbreviation pM stands for particulate matter and measures the concentration of particle size distribution.

“This is meaningful in that this device opened the way for developing state-of-the-art electronic devices such as biosensors that detect DNA proteins, including COVIV-19's,” the university said in the statement.

COVID-19 proteins trigger strokes and heart attacks.

The research was recently published in Advanced Functional Materials, a renowned peer-reviewed scientific journal.

BJTs are the basic building blocks of integrated circuits and control switching applications and logic operations.

"Stability and sensitivity were the hurdles to employing a 2D materials-based electronic device to biosensors,” Dr. Eom Jonghwa, a professor of physics and astronomy at Sejong University, said in a statement.

“I’m very proud of this device solving the two problems simultaneously.”

Highly sensitive and rapid detection of biomolecules is essential for biosensors used in clinical, military and environmental applications.

The stacking of atomically thin 2D semiconductor materials enhances the flow density of electrons and holes within a BJT device.

The thickness of a BJT affects its performance, with its performance decreasing substantially the thicker it is. 

Dr. Ghulam Dastgeer, also of Sejong University, is the lead author of the research, jointly conducted by Professor Eom Jonghwa and his lab researchers.

Write to Yeonhee Kim at yhkim@hankyung.com

Jennifer Nicholson-Breen edited this article