A Novel Sensing Methodology to Detect Furfural in Water, Exploiting MIPs, and Inkjet-Printed Optical Waveguides

A novel optical 1 platform has been used to monitor 2 the interaction between a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) 3 and a small molecule. The new optical sensor is made of a 4 polyethylene terephthalate substrate with a pattern of silver 5 nanoparticles, printed on it by inkjet technology, and two plastic 6 optical fibers (POFs). The POFs connect the optical sensor, 7 later covered by the MIP layer, with a light source and with 8 a spectrometer. The detection of furfural (furan-2-carbaldehyde, 9 2-FAL) in aqueous media was investigated exploiting a selective 10 MIP receptor. The experimental results show that this novel 11 approach presents a limit of detection of about 0.03 ppm, 12 comparable to that of plasmonic sensors combined with the same 13 MIP, but with the advantage of an easier preparation procedure.