ELECTRODE SUBSTRATE, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME, AND BIOSENSOR USING ELECTRODE SUBSTRATE
20220334076 · 2022-10-20
Inventors
Cpc classification
A61B5/14865
HUMAN NECESSITIES
A61B5/14532
HUMAN NECESSITIES
G01N27/3272
PHYSICS
A61B2562/125
HUMAN NECESSITIES
International classification
Abstract
The present disclosure provides an electrode substrate including an insulating substrate having, on a surface thereof, a region where at least one fine uneven structure is formed and a plurality of smooth regions separated by the fine uneven structure; and a conductive thin film formed on the entire of at least one surface of the insulating substrate where the fine uneven structure is formed. According to the present disclosure, the conductive region and the insulating region can be simultaneously formed on the insulating substrate only by forming the conductive thin film in a single step on the entire surface of the single insulating substrate on which the fine uneven structure is formed.
Claims
1. An electrode substrate comprising: an insulating substrate having, on a surface thereof, a region where at least one fine uneven structure is formed and a plurality of smooth regions separated by the fine uneven structure; and a conductive thin film formed on an entire of at least one surface of the insulating substrate where the fine uneven structure is formed, wherein the conductive thin film formed on the region where the fine uneven structure is formed is discontinuous.
2. The electrode substrate according to claim 1, wherein the fine uneven structure region includes a plurality of protrusions discontinuous in at least one direction in a surface direction of the insulating substrate.
3. The electrode substrate according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of protrusions discontinuous in the at least one direction are columnar bodies, and an intersection angle X′ between a side of the columnar body in a longitudinal cross-sectional shape and a line on a surface of a bottom of the fine uneven structure is 85° to 90°.
4. The electrode substrate according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of protrusions discontinuous in the at least one direction is formed of a columnar body having a diagonal dimension of 10 to 50 nm and a height of 100 to 2000 nm and disposed at intervals of 50 to 200 nm.
5. The electrode substrate according to claim 4, wherein a substantial cone or a substantial pyramid having a bottom surface having the same shape as the upper bottom surface or a bottom surface having an area smaller than the upper bottom surface is coupled to the upper bottom surface of each of the columnar bodies.
6. The electrode substrate according to claim 5, wherein an inward inclination angle of a generatrix of a substantial cone or a side surface of a substantial pyramid is larger than an inclination angle of a generatrix of a substantially circular column or a side surface of a substantially prismatic column to which the substantial cone or the substantial pyramid is coupled.
7. The electrode substrate according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of protrusions discontinuous in the at least one direction are wall bodies, and an intersection angle X′ between a side of the wall body in a longitudinal cross-sectional shape and a line on a surface of a bottom of the fine uneven structure is 85° to 90°.
8. The electrode substrate according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of protrusions discontinuous in the at least one direction is formed of a wall body having a bottom width of 10 to 50 nm, a length of 0.1 to 50000 μm, and a height of 100 to 2000 nm arranged at intervals of 50 to 200 nm.
9. The electrode substrate according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of the conductive thin film formed in a region where the fine uneven structure is formed is 5 to 100 nm.
10-30. (canceled)
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0073]
[0074]
[0075]
[0076]
[0077]
[0078]
[0079]
[0080]
[0081]
[0082]
[0083]
[0084]
[0085]
[0086]
[0087]
[0088]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
[Preliminary Experiment 1]
[0089] In this preliminary experiment, conductivity and film formation continuity when a conductive thin film was formed on an insulating substrate having a fine uneven structure formed on a surface were checked.
[0090] Au was sputtered to form an Au thin film having a thickness of 5 to 200 nm on the surface of the insulating substrate having the fine uneven structure in which a plurality of bumps schematically illustrated in
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Au thin film thickness (nm) Conduction 5 Absence 20 Absence 50 Absence 100 Absence 150 Presence 200 Presence
[0091] When the thickness of the Au thin film was 100 nm or less, there was no conduction, and when the thickness was 150 to 200 nm, there was conduction.
[0092] It has been checked that when an appropriately designed fine uneven structure (for example, the fine uneven structure schematically illustrated in
[Preliminary Experiment 2]
[0093] In this preliminary experiment, the visibility when a conductive thin film was formed on an insulating substrate having a fine uneven structure formed on a surface were checked.
[0094]
[0095] It was visually checked that the plurality of linear regions where the fine uneven structure region was not formed were colored with the color of the formed material, and the fine uneven structure region had a lower light reflectance than that of the linear region and was dark in color.
[0096] That is, according to the present disclosure, it has been checked that a fine circuit formed by the fine uneven structure can be visually inspected at a stage of forming the conductive thin film.
[0097] Based on the findings obtained in the above preliminary experiment, according to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electrode substrate including an insulating substrate having, on a surface thereof, a region where at least one fine uneven structure is formed and a plurality of smooth regions separated by the fine uneven structure; and a conductive thin film formed on an entire at least one surface of the insulating substrate where the fine uneven structure is formed, wherein the conductive thin film formed on the region where the fine uneven structure is formed is discontinuous.
[0098] In a more specific aspect, the present disclosure provides a probe for a biosensor, including an insulating substrate having, on a surface thereof, a region where at least one fine uneven structure is formed and a plurality of smooth regions separated by the fine uneven structure; a conductive thin film formed on an entire at least one surface of the insulating substrate where the fine uneven structure is formed; and at least one electrode formed in the smooth region separated by the fine uneven structure, wherein the conductive thin film formed on the region where the fine uneven structure is formed is discontinuous, and each of two or more smooth regions separated by the region where the fine uneven structure is formed is electrically insulated.
[0099] The fine uneven structure region includes a plurality of protrusions discontinuous in at least one direction in a top view of the insulating substrate. In one aspect, the plurality of protrusions discontinuous in the at least one direction is formed of a columnar body (substantially circular column or a substantially prismatic column) having a diagonal dimension of 10 to 50 nm and a height of 100 to 2000 nm and disposed at intervals of 50 to 200 nm. In another aspect, a substantial cone or a substantial pyramid having a bottom surface having the same shape as the upper bottom surface or a bottom surface having an area smaller than the upper bottom surface is coupled to the upper bottom surface of each of the protrusions.
[0100] As a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for producing a probe for a biosensor described above. This producing method includes: a step of forming a conductive thin film of a conductive material selected from carbon, gold, silver, copper, platinum, palladium, or the like on the entire surface of an insulating substrate having, on a surface thereof, a region where at least one fine uneven structure is formed and a plurality of smooth regions separated by the fine uneven structure; and a step of forming an electrode in the plurality of smooth regions separated by the fine uneven structure, wherein the fine uneven structure region includes a plurality of protrusions discontinuous in at least one direction in a surface direction (top view) of the insulating substrate, and the conductive thin film formed on the region where the fine uneven structure is formed is discontinuous. As a result, the conductive thin film formed on the upper bottom surface of one protrusion constituting the fine uneven structure region and the conductive thin film formed on the upper bottom surface of another adjacent protrusion are electrically insulated.
[0101] As a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a biosensor including the probe for a biosensor described above.
EXAMPLES
[0102] An example in which a probe of an in vivo electrochemical glucose sensor is prepared using the above-described technique for forming a fine uneven structure region in a desired pattern will be described below. However, the technology of the present disclosure is not applied only to a glucose sensor, and is useful for producing all electrode substrates in which it is necessary to form a plurality of electrodes on one insulating base material.
1. Method for Producing Probe for Implantable Biosensor
[0103] A method for producing a probe 11 of an implantable biosensor 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. The following structure and producing method are one specific example of the present disclosure, and are not limited to the following configuration and producing steps as long as a desired fine uneven structure region having the features of the present disclosure is formed.
Example 1
<Production of Probe>
(1) Preparation of Insulating Substrate
[0104] An implantable biosensor 1 includes a main body 10 and a probe 11, and the probe 11 is schematically formed in a key shape including a sensing portion inserted into a living body and a terminal portion electrically connected to an internal circuit of the biosensor main body 10. The sensing portion is formed thin so as to be inserted into the body, and the terminal portion has a constant size so as to be inserted into the biosensor main body 10 to form an electrical connection. First, an insulating substrate 111 is prepared (
(2) Formation of Fine Uneven Structure Region
[0105] An insulating fine uneven structure region 112 for forming an outer frame for forming the key-shaped probe 11 is formed on the insulating substrate 111, and an insulating fine uneven structure region 113 for forming an electrode lead for electrically insulating a working electrode lead and a reference electrode lead is formed (
[0106] Such a fine uneven structure region was formed by a nanoimprinting technique in which hot pressing is performed using a mold on which a corresponding fine uneven structure is formed.
(3) Formation of Conductive Thin Film
[0107] The conductive thin film 114 is formed on the insulating substrate 111 on which the fine uneven structure region is formed by depositing a conductive material selected from the group consisting of carbon or a metal such as gold, silver, platinum, or palladium by sputtering, vapor deposition, ion plating, or the like. A preferred thickness of the conductive thin film is 5 to 100 nm. In this example, the conductive thin film 114 having a thickness of 100 nm was formed on the insulating substrate 111 by direct gold (Au) sputtering (
[0108] The conductive thin film 114 is divided into a working electrode lead 114a and a reference electrode lead 114b due to the presence of the insulating fine uneven structure region 113 for forming an electrode lead.
(4) Formation of Insulating Film
[0109] On the front side of the insulating substrate 111, an insulating film 115a having an opening is formed by a sputtering method, a screen printing method, or the like at a portion excluding regions used as the working electrode 116 and the reference electrode 117, and a working electrode terminal 116a and a reference electrode terminal 117a for electrical connection with the main body 10 (
(5) Formation of Sensing Layer
[0110] An aqueous solution of a redox mediator and an aqueous solution of an analyte-responsive enzyme are mixed on the conductive thin film 114a of the sensing portion of the probe, which is not covered with the insulating film 115 a, and the mixed aqueous solution is applied and dried to form a sensing layer 116b containing at least the redox mediator and the analyte-responsive enzyme (
[0111] In the present disclosure, the sensing layer may be a multilayer film containing at least a redox mediator and an analyte-responsive enzyme, and formed of a mediator layer containing the redox mediator and an enzyme layer containing the analyte-responsive enzyme by sequentially applying and drying an aqueous solution of the redox mediator and an aqueous solution of the analyte-responsive enzyme. A preferred thickness of the sensing layer is 0.1 to 80 μm.
[0112] In addition, in order to improve the conductivity of the sensing layer, conductive particles such as a carbon particle suspension may be applied and dried first before the mixed aqueous solution of the redox mediator and the analyte-responsive enzyme.
[0113] In the present disclosure, the “analyte-responsive enzyme” means a biochemical substance capable of specifically catalyzing oxidation or reduction of an analyte. Any biochemical substance may be used as long as it can be used for the sensing purpose of the biosensor. For example, in a case where glucose is used as an analyte, a suitable analyte-responsive enzyme is glucose oxidase (GOx), glucose dehydrogenase (GDH), or the like. The “redox mediator” means an oxidation-reduction substance that mediates electron transfer, and is responsible for transfer of electrons generated by an oxidation-reduction reaction of an analyte in a biosensor. For example, a phenazine derivative and the like are included, but not limited thereto, and any oxidation-reduction substance may be used as long as it can be used for the sensing purpose of a biosensor.
[0114] In addition, an example of synthesis of a redox mediator is shown below.
Synthesis Example: Synthesis of Phenazine Derivative Having Carboxyl Group
[0115] For example, 5-(4-carboxybutyl)-1-methoxyphenazinium nitrate is synthesized by acting an N-alkylating agent on 1-methoxyphenazine. Furthermore, 5-{[(2,5-dioxopyridin-1-yl) oxy]-5 oxopentyl}-1-methoxyphenazinium nitrate in which N-hydroxysuccinimide is added to the terminal carboxyl group to improve the reactivity of the carboxyl group is synthesized. The corresponding N-alkylating agent can be selected to synthesize a desired N-alkylcarboxyphenazinium salt.
##STR00001##
[0116] 0.6 mg of 5-{[(2,5-dioxopyridin-1-yl) oxy]-5 oxopentyl}-1-methoxyphenazinium nitrate (Ph-C5-Su) obtained in the synthesis example was weighed and dissolved in a 120 μL of 100 mM 2-morpholinoethanesulfonic acid (MES) buffer solution (pH 6.0).
##STR00002##
[0117] Separately, 5 mg of poly (L-lysine) hydrochloride (Peptide Research Institute Code 3075; M.W.>12000, cut-off by dialysis) was weighed out and dissolved in a 1 mL of 100 mM MES buffer solution (pH 6.0). The two solutions were mixed and reacted at room temperature for 4 hours with stirring.
[0118] A reaction solution was subjected to gel filtration chromatography with a PD-10 column (GE Healthcare) using PBS as an elution buffer. The solution after gel filtration was filtrated through a centrifugal ultrafiltration filter (Amicon Ultra-4 30 k; Merck Millipore).
[0119] According to the above procedure, a high molecular weight polymer (PLL-05-Ph_1) in which phenazine was covalently bonded to poly (L-lysine) hydrochloride was obtained.
[0120] The obtained PLL-05-Ph_1 solution was adjusted to have an absorbance of about 11 at 386 nm with PBS while being measured by a microplate (greiner bio-one UV-STAR MICROPALLETE 96 WELL F-BODEN) and a plate reader (TECAN infinite M 200 PRO). As the absorbance, a value obtained by subtracting the measured absorbance of PBS as a blank value was used.
[0121] Here, 0.18 μl of a solution obtained by suspending Ketjen Black EC 600 JD (Lion Specialty Chemicals Co., Ltd.) as a carbon particle suspension at 2 mg/ml with a 0.2% aqueous tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.) solution was applied by an inkjet apparatus (Labojet 3000: produced by Microjet) and dried. Thereafter, 0.12 μl of a mixed aqueous solution of the synthesized PLL-05-Ph_1 as a redox mediator, glucose dehydrogenase (FAD-dependent) (BBI international GDH GLD1) as an analyte-responsive enzyme, and a glutaraldehyde solution (Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.) was similarly applied by an inkjet apparatus and dried to form a sensing layer 116b having a two-layer structure.
(6) Formation of Reference Electrode
[0122] Ag/AgCl is deposited on the reference electrode opening of the insulating film 115a formed on the front side of the insulating substrate 111 by a screen printing method, a dispenser method, or the like to form a reference electrode 117 (
(7) Formation of Counter Electrode
[0123] Although not illustrated in
(8) Separation into Individual Probes
[0124] Individual probes are separated from the insulating substrate 111 on which the plurality of probes are formed along the insulating fine uneven structure region 112 for forming an outer frame. The probe is separated by cutting the insulating substrate, but a cutting method is not particularly limited, and the probe can be cut by a method known in the art such as laser cutting or die cutting using a pinnacle (registered trademark) die.
[0125] One of the isolated probes is shown in
(9) Formation of Protective Film
[0126] The sensing portion of the probe is immersed in a solution containing a biocompatible resin for sensor protection to form a protective film 119 on both surfaces, side surfaces, and end surfaces of the sensing portion (
[0127] Here, the sensing portion was immersed in an ethanol solution containing a crosslinking agent and a polymer for a protective film to form a protective film (thickness: 5 to 60 μm) on both surfaces, side surfaces, and end surfaces of the sensing portion. More specifically, a solution obtained by dissolving poly (tert-butyl methacrylate)-b-poly (4-vinylpyridine) (GENERAL SCIENCE CORPORATION) in ethanol so as to be 10% (weight/volume), a solution obtained by dissolving polystyrene-co-4-vinylpyridine-co-oligo [propylene glycol methyl ether] methacrylate) and random (GENERAL SCIENCE CORPORATION) in ethanol so as to be 10% (weight/volume), a solution obtained by dissolving them in poly (ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether, and a water/ethanol (5/95 volume %) solution of 200 mM 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid as a buffer solution were prepared, the probe prepared above was immersed in a protective film solution prepared by mixing the solutions, and the probe was repeatedly immersed again 5 to 15 times after drying for 10 minutes and dried for 24 hours or more, so that a crosslinked protective film was formed to obtain a probe.
2. Internal Structure of Probe of Implantable Biosensor
[0128] An internal structure of the probe 11 of the implantable biosensor 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure will be further described.
[0129]
[0130]
[0131]
3. Preparation of Biosensor
[0132] The completed probe 11 was attached to the biosensor main body 10 to produce an implantable biosensor.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
[0133] According to the present disclosure, since the insulating substrate on which the fine uneven structure region appropriately designed in a nanosize is formed is used, it is possible to produce an electrode substrate including a very fine circuit having a wiring width and a wiring interval (line/space) on the order of several hundreds of nm. The miniaturization can also contribute to downsizing of the sensor. In addition, it is also possible to arrange a plurality of electrodes in a conventional size, which can also contribute to producing of a multifunctional sensor. Regarding the producing method, since the circuit patterning is performed on the insulating substrate in advance using the nanoimprinting technology, the number of producing steps is reduced, and thereby the producing cost can be reduced. In addition, since the fine uneven structure is patterned by transferring a mold, dimensional variations in producing are small, and mass production with stable circuit dimensions is possible. Further, when the conductive thin film having a thickness of 5 to 100 nm is formed on the fine uneven structure region, the reflectance of light is different between the fine uneven structure region and the smooth region where the fine uneven structure is not formed, so that a fine circuit can be checked using a camera or the like at a stage of forming the conductive thin film. With this feature, a circuit failure can be found before proceeding to a subsequent step, and thus the yield is improved.
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST
[0134] 1 Implantable biosensor [0135] 10 Main body [0136] 11 Probe [0137] 111 Insulating substrate [0138] 112 Insulating fine uneven structure region for forming outer frame [0139] 113 Insulating fine uneven structure region for forming electrode lead [0140] 114 Conductive thin film [0141] 114a Working electrode lead [0142] 114b Reference electrode lead [0143] 114c Counter electrode lead [0144] 115 Insulating film [0145] 116 Working electrode [0146] 116a Working electrode terminal [0147] 116b Sensing layer [0148] 117 Reference electrode [0149] 117a Reference electrode terminal [0150] 118 Counter electrode [0151] 118a Counter electrode terminal [0152] 119 Protective film [0153] 2 Living body [0154] A First smooth region [0155] B Second smooth region [0156] C1 Fine uneven structure region of first embodiment [0157] C2 Fine uneven structure region of second embodiment [0158] D Smooth region of insulating substrate [0159] E Upper bottom surface of protrusion (upper side in longitudinal sectional view) [0160] F Side surface of protrusion (side in longitudinal sectional view) [0161] G Lower bottom surface of protrusion (lower side in longitudinal sectional view) [0162] H Bottom portion of fine uneven structure