Surface modification of low and high temperature co-fired ceramics for enzymatic microreactor fabrication

In this work, immobilization of enzyme (urease) on substrates made of low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) and high temperature co-fired ceramics (HTCC) is presented. The research was performed for three various LTCCs (DP951, CeramTec GC, HL2000) and one HTCC (ESL 44000) material system. Investigated ceramic materials were characterized using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and contact angle measurements. Immobilization method based on APTS (3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane) and glutaraldehyde is proposed for LTCC and HTCC surface modification. Effectiveness of the applied immobilization procedure was examined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR) technique. Changes in surface composition of the LTCC and HTCC-based test structures are examined after each step of the immobilization process. On the basis of performed experiments one ceramic material system was chosen for fabrication of the enzymatic microreactor. Performance of the ceramic microreactor with immobilized urease was examined experimentally, as well.