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Intermetallics 30 (2012) 80e85

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Intermetallics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/intermet

Amorphous metallic glass biosensors

Suiqiong Li, Shin Horikawa, Mi-kyung Park, Yating Chai, Vitaly J. Vodyanoy, Bryan A. Chin*
Materials Research & Education Center, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Amorphous metallic glasses possess a unique combination of magnetostriction and extremely soft
Available online 26 April 2012 magnetic properties making them ideal candidates for developing high performance biosensors. This
paper presents the results of an investigation of novel free-standing magnetoelastic (ME) biosensors
Keywords: based on FeeB amorphous metallic glasses. The principle of operation of wireless ME biosensors and the
B. Glasses, metallic advantages of metallic glasses for their construction are discussed. The materials with the highest
B. Magnetic properties
possible elasticemagnetic energy conversion efficiency are favored for sensor applications. Due to the
C. Vapour deposition
unique properties of amorphous metallic glasses, acoustic wave sensors based on amorphous ME alloys
G. Biomedical applications
G. Environmental applications
with mild magnetostriction properties show a very high elasticemagnetic energy conversion efficiency.
In this study, ME biosensor resonators 4
100
500 mm in size were manufactured by dual beam
sputtering and non-traditional microelectronic fabrication techniques. E2 phage, genetically engineered
to bind with Salmonella typhimurium, was immobilized on the sensor surfaces as a bio-recognition
element. The detection of Salmonella in liquid using these phage-based ME biosensors was demon-
strated. The ME biosensor exhibited high sensitivity and a detection limit better than 50 CFU/mL.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction at the bio-interface. The transducer/platform converts the observed

Metallic glasses are non-crystalline alloys with a disordered
atomic-scale structure. Their unique microstructure provides
excellent mechanical and magnetic properties such as outstanding
tensile strength, good corrosion resistance, low internal friction,
and extremely soft magnetic properties [1,2]. The remarkable
magnetic softness of metallic glasses originates from the structural
magnetic isotropy on a macroscopic scale. Amorphous alloys
exhibit high atomic mobility in metastable structures. Therefore,
these alloys can be annealed at relatively low temperatures,
achieving internal stress relaxation and a dramatic increase in the
magnetic softness [2].
Due to their state-of-the-art soft magnetic properties, one of the
potential commercial applications of amorphous metallic glasses is
in the construction of biosensors for food safety, medical, and point
of care devices. Biosensors may be the largest commercial market
for metallic glass in the near future.
A biosensor is an analytical device incorporating a bio-
recognition element (probe/receptor) with a transducer (platform)
system. The specific biological reaction between the bio-recognition
element and the target pathogen causes a physical/chemical change
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: bchin@eng.auburn.edu (B.A. Chin).
change (physical or chemical) into a measurable signal that is sent to
an output system to be amplified, processed, and displayed [3].
Biosensors offer many advantages in detecting chemicals and food-
borne pathogens. They are extremely target specific and sensitive
but respond rapidly, making them ideal for real-time detection.
Some are even reusable and portable for on-the-spot analysis.
Biosensors are now being applied in many fields such as medical
care, environmental monitoring, food safety, and the military. Due
to the demands from these diverse areas and the development of
novel biosensor techniques, the biosensor market is growing and
expected to exhibit continuous strong growth. In the next six years,
the compound annual growth rate of the biosensor market is esti-
mated to be 11.5% [4]. By 2016, the global revenue for the biosensor
market is projected to reach $14 billion [4]. Biosensors for detecting
food-borne pathogens comprise a major part of the biosensor
market due to the urgent need for improving food safety. The United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that medical
costs and productivity losses due to major food pathogens resulted
in $2.9e$6.7 billion per year [5,6]. Three major food-borne
outbreaks due to Salmonella contamination have occurred over the
last 3 years in the United States, resulting in thousands of confirmed
illnesses and over $1 billion in economic losses [7e9]. Food safety
concerns will facilitate the steady growth of food product testing in
U.S. food industries. A 2000 study showed that U.S. food industries
performed approximately 144.3 million microbiological tests in

0966-9795/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.intermet.2012.03.030
 Author's personal copy
S. Li et al. / Intermetallics 30 (2012) 80e85
1999 [5]. The potential market for food-borne pathogen detection
has attracted great interest in biosensor research. Approximately
38% of reported pathogen biosensors in the past 20 years were
developed for the food industry [10].
Biosensor platforms based on metallic glass materials work on
the principle of magnetostriction. Magnetostriction is an effect that
can be observed in many metallic glass materials. Under an applied
magnetic field, elastic strains are produced in magnetoelastic (ME)
materials resulting in dimensional changes. This property can be
used to construct a resonating platform that can be used as the
basis for a mass sensor. Compared with crystalline materials, these
ME alloys with amorphous microstructures exhibit some of the
highest possible elasticemagnetic energy conversion efficiencies,
hence making them ideal sensors.
Free-standing, phage-based, ME biosensors have recently been
investigated as a wireless detection method for real-time pathogen
monitoring in the field. The ME biosensor is composed of a ME
resonator that is coated with a bio-molecular recognition element
that binds specifically with a target pathogen. The ME resonators
are strip-shaped amorphous ferromagnetic alloys. Under an alter-
nating magnetic field, the resonators undergo a corresponding
oscillating shape change that produces a mechanical vibration with
a characteristic resonant frequency. Once the biosensor comes into
contact with the target pathogen, binding between the bio-
molecular recognition element and target pathogen cells occurs.
This causes an increase in the mass of the resonator, resulting in
a decrease of the sensor’s resonant frequency.
Construction of ME biosensors based on FeeB based metallic
glasses have successfully been shown to detect various pathogens
such as Salmonella, Bacillus anthracis spores, and Escherichia coli
[11e22]. These biosensors can be used to simultaneously monitor
various biological processes as well [23e26]. Metallic glasses are
ideal materials for developing ME biosensors. In this paper, we
discuss the application of metallic glasses to ME biosensor devel-
opment. ME biosensors based on amorphous Fe80B20 alloy have
been fabricated using sputtering and lift-off techniques, as well as
electrochemical deposition. E2 phage that specifically binds with
Salmonella typhimurium was immobilized by physical absorption
onto the sensor surfaces. The detection of Salmonella in a liquid is
demonstrated using these ME biosensors.
2. Theory of operation: magnetoelastic (ME) biosensors
ME sensors are a type of acoustic wave (AW) sensor platform.
Acoustic wave (AW) devices have been widely investigated as
biosensor transducers due to their high sensitivity, simple struc-
ture, low cost, ease of use, and capability to conduct real-time in situ
Fig. 1. The principle of operation of ME biosensors.
81
detection [27e30]. In AW transducers, acoustic waves are gener-
ated in the actuating part of the transducer, thereby causing the
oscillation of the sensor. Acoustic resonators are mass sensitive
sensors. In other words, a change in the mass load on the sensor
surface causes a change in the resonant frequency of the sensor.
AW devices made of ME materials have been investigated and
explored for the development of high performance biosensors
[11,13,18e22,31].
A ME biosensor is comprised of a free-standing sensor platform
made of a strip-shaped ME resonator and a bio-recognition
element (antibody, phage, enzymes, etc.) immobilized on the
sensor platform surface. The operation principle of the ME
biosensor is shown in Fig. 1. ME biosensors work on the principle of
magnetostriction, wherein the material experiences changes in its
dimensions in the presence of a magnetic field. Upon application of
a magnetic field, the randomly oriented magnetic domains in the
material tend to align in the direction of the applied field. A change
in the dimensions of the ME material occurs as a result of the
alignment of the magnetic domains in the material. The ME
materials can efficiently convert the applied magnetic energy into
mechanical oscillations with a characteristic resonant frequency by
applying a time-varying magnetic field. This mechanical vibration
consequently causes an emission of magnetic flux from the reso-
nator. Therefore, the resonator’s resonant frequency, at which the
oscillation of the resonator reaches maximum, can be measured
remotely and wirelessly by a pick up coil. In the pathogen detection,
the biological recognition element immobilized on the ME
biosensor surface would capture the interested agents when the
biosensor contacts the target species. This results in an increase in
mass of the biosensor and a sequential decrease in its resonant
frequency. Therefore, the presence of a target pathogen can be
detected by monitoring the shift in the resonant frequency of ME
biosensors.
For a stripe-shaped ME resonator with length L, width w and
thickness t, vibrating in its basal plane, the fundamental resonant
frequency of longitudinal oscillations is given by [32,33]
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
E 1
f0 ¼ (1)
rð1  yÞ 2L
where E is Young’s modulus of elasticity, r is the density of the
sensor material, y is the Poisson’s ratio, and L is the length of the
resonator.
Addition of a small mass of Dm, such as the target pathogen cells
binding on the sensor surface, will result in a decrease of the
resonant frequency (f0) by an amount of Df. Therefore, the sensi-
tivity (Sm) of an ME biosensor can be expressed as follows [34,35]:
 Author's personal copy
82
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Df 1 E
Sm ¼ ¼  2
Dm 4L wt r3 ð1  yÞ
The negative sign means the resonant frequency of the ME reso-
nator decreases with an increase of the mass load. Thus, the mass
load on the ME resonator can easily be obtained by simply
measuring the shift in the resonant frequency.
ME biosensors have the unique advantage of detection in the
absence of physical wire contacts to the sensor, enabling in situ
wireless measurements in tubes of flowing liquids or sealed
containers. Equation (2) reveals that detection sensitivity of the ME
biosensor exponentially increases as the size of the resonator
decreases. The micro-ME resonators have been manufactured using
microelectronic fabrication techniques. Cost of fabrication of
a single microfabricated sensor is less than 1/1000 of a cent.
The performance of an ME resonator as a biosensor transducer is
characterized by two important parameters: mass sensitivity (Sm)
and quality merit factor (Q value). These parameters are the two
most important parameters in characterizing all AW transducers.
The Sm is defined as the shift in the resonant frequency due to the
attachment of the unit mass load on the sensor surface, as given in
Equation (2) for ME biosensor. The Q value is defined as the ratio of
the energy stored in the resonant structure to the total energy
losses per oscillation cycle. When the output signal of an AW
transducer is an amplitudeefrequency spectrum, the measure of
the Q value is given by f0 divided by the width of the resonant peak
at its half height, Dfwidth. (Fig. 2) As shown in Fig. 2, the Q value
reflects the sharpness of the resonant peak in the plot of oscillation
amplitude versus frequency. A larger Q value means a sharper
resonant peak which results in a higher resolution in determining
resonant frequency. The minimum detectable mass (Dmmin) for an
AW sensor transducer depends on the Sm and the Dfmin. This is
particularly important for AW transducers which operate at
a higher frequency and possess higher sensitivity levels. Therefore,
it is highly desirable for an acoustic resonator to possess a high Sm
and a large Q value.
3. Experimental
3.1. Metallic glass materials
Fe-based metallic glass materials have been investigated for
applications as ME biosensor platforms. In this paper, the magnetic
properties of commercially available metallic glasses and
High Q
Low Q
Vibration Amplitude
f0
Δfwidth
Frequency
Fig. 2. Illustration of amplitudeefrequency spectrum curves for AW transducers with
different Q values. The red curve shows a sharper peak compared with the green curve,
thus it has a higher Q value. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure
legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
S. Li et al. / Intermetallics 30 (2012) 80e85
amorphous Fe80B20 alloy are discussed from the standpoint of
(2) sensor platform applications.
The commercially available metallic glass (MetglasÔ alloy
2826MB) was purchased in ribbon form from Metglas, Inc. (Con-
way, SC, USA). The as-cast material was used to fabricate ME
biosensor platform. These materials are cast using a liquid-
quenching technique: the molten alloy is directed onto a rotating
cold wheel, where it is cooled at a rate greater than 106 /s. The
quick quenching freezes the microstructure of the alloy in its liquid
state [36].
Both electrochemical synthesis and physical vapor deposition
(sputtering) have been employed to fabricate Fe80B20 alloy used for
constructing ME biosensors. In the electrochemical synthesis
process, Fe80B20 films were electrochemically deposited from an
aquatic solution consisting of iron sulfate (20 g/L), potassium
borohydride (16 g/L), sodium hydroxide (16 g/L), and potassium
sodium tartrate (90 g/L) [37,38]. The electrochemical deposition
process was performed using an EpsilonÔ electrochemistry anal-
ysis unit from Bioanalytical Systems, Inc. For precise control, the
three-electrode configuration was used. A standard Ag/AgCl elec-
trode was used as the reference electrode; a platinum mesh with
size of 2
2 cm was used as the counting electrode; and a glass
plate (2
2 cm) covered with a Cu(2.5 mm)/Cr(100 nm) bilayer was
used as the working electrode. The Cr layer was used to bind the Cu
layer onto the glass. The temperature of the bath was kept at
22  2  C during the deposition. A current density of 5 mA/cm2 was
used for deposition.
Amorphous films with compositions near to 80/20 at.% iron/
boron were fabricated using a microelectronic processes including
co-sputtering and a non-traditional lift-off process. Details of the
fabricated process have been described in other papers [39,40].
3.2. Magnetization loop measurement
The magnetization (MeH loop) of the commercially available
2826MB ribbon and the electrochemically deposited Fe80B20 alloy
was measured by a DSM Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM)
with the H field applied parallel to the surface of the ribbon/films. In
order to compare the magnetization of these two materials, their
MeH hysteresis loops were normalized.
3.3. ME biosensors constructed based on sputtered Fe80B20 alloy
ME resonators of the size of 4
100
500 mm were fabricated
by sputtering amorphous Fe80B20 alloy onto specially prepared
silicon wafers and using a lift-off process. The fabrication process is
described in references [39,40].
In this research, E2 phage, genetically engineered against
Salmonella, was immobilized onto the ME resonator surface as the
bio-molecular recognition element to form the biosensor. The
filamentous E2 phage, genetically engineered by Dr Valery Pet-
renko for binding to S. typhimurium, was provided by Dr. James M.
Barbaree’s laboratory in the Department of Biological Sciences at
Auburn University. To prepare the ME biosensors, the ME sensor
platforms were individually placed in a micro-tube containing
200 ml of the selected E2 phage (5
1011 virions/ml). The tube was
placed on a rotor and rotated for 1 h at a speed of 8 rpm. The phage
was immobilized on all sides of the sensor by physical adsorption.
After the immobilization, the sensors were washed three times
with 1
Tris-Buffered Saline (TBS) solution and two times with
sterile distilled water in order to remove any unbound or loosely
bound phage. This completed the fabrication of the phage-based
ME biosensor and the biosensors were ready for use.
Control sensors were applied in this study to compensate for the
non-specific binding and environmental changes. Control sensors
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S. Li et al. / Intermetallics 30 (2012) 80e85 83

a 2826MB b Electrochemical Deposited FeB film (12um)

1.0 1.0

Normalized Moment

Normalized Moment
0.5 0.5

0.0 0.0

-0.5 -0.5

-1.0 -1.0

-400 -200 0 200 400 -600 -400 -200 0 200 400 600
Applied Field H (Oe) Applied Field H (Oe)

Fig. 3. Magnetization loops of amorphous alloys. (a) METGLASÒ 2826MB alloy ribbon (28 mm in thickness), obtained from Honeywell International; (b) Fe80B20 film (12 mm in
thickness) fabricated by electrochemical deposition. The magnetization loops were measured by a DSM model Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) with the H field applied
parallel to the surface of the ribbon/film.

were identical to measurement biosensors with the exception of 2

Emel
the E2 phage coating. Both the control and measurement sensors k2 ¼ (3)
Eel Em
were treated with BSA to block non-specific binding.
where Emel is the magnetoelastic energy, Eel and Em is the input
3.4. Salmonella detection in liquids using ME biosensors elastic and magnetic energy, respectively.
The ME resonator in a ME biosensor oscillates under an ac
The S. typhimurium (ATCC13311) suspension in water used in magnetic driving field super-imposed with a dc bias field in order
this work was provided by Dr. James M. Barbaree’s laboratory in the obtain an amplified quasi-linear output. The behavior of the ME
Department of Biological Sciences at Auburn University, Auburn, materials is similar to piezomagnetic materials under induced
AL. The suspensions were serially diluted in water to prepare polarization (applied bias magnetic field Hdc or a mechanical pre-
bacterial suspensions ranging from 5
101 to 5
105 CFU/mL. All stress, T0, on the material) [42,43]. If the actuating (alternative
test solutions were prepared on the same day as the biosensor magnetic field) is applied along the polarization direction
testing. The test solutions were stored at 4  C (during transfer and (3-direction), it is assumed that the transverse actuating fields and
storage) and equilibrated to room temperature in a water bath prior the radial stresses are negligible and that there is no shear effect
to the experiments. [42]. In this case, the longitudinal magnetomechanical coupling
ME biosensors constructed in Section 3.3 were used to detect coefficient, k33, is defined as [36,42]:
Salmonella in liquid. The experiment was conducted using a flowing
analyte system in which the bacteria suspension is continuously d233
k233 ¼ (4)
passed through a test chamber that contains the sensors [11]. The s33 mT33
H

resonant frequency of the biosensor was monitored using

a network analyzer. At the beginning of all experiments, the where sH33 is compliance at constant H, d33 is the piezomagnetic
biosensors were exposed to distilled water in order to obtain an constant and mT33 is permeability at constant temperature,
initial steady-state resonant frequency. The resonant frequency of respectively.
the biosensor in water was used as the baseline resonant frequency.
The sensors were then successively exposed to increasing
Table 1
concentrations of Salmonella (5
101 CFU/mL through 5
105 CFU/ Magnetization properties of amorphous METGLASÒ 2826MB ribbon and electro-
mL). For each concentration, 1 mL of bacteria solution was passed chemical deposited Fe80B20 film.
through the glass tube. The resonant frequency of the biosensor
METGLASÒ 2826MB Fe80B20 film
was then measured and recorded for 10 min under static
Hc (Oe) 0.05 9.37
conditions. Squareness (Mr/Ms) 0.0011 0.15
After the exposure tests, the surfaces of both the measurement
and control sensors were observed using SEM to analyze the
binding of the target bacterial cells. Table 2
Properties of some common magnetostrictive materials [36,41,44,45].
4. Results and discussion Material Curie Saturation kmax
33 Young’s
temperature magnetostriction modulus
4.1. Application of metallic glasses in developing ME biosensors (K) ls (106) (GPa)
Nickel 631 36 0.31 210
As introduced in the theoretical section, the Q value of the ME Fe65Ni35 773 40 0.32 w110
Magnetite (Fe3O4) 853 40 0.36 e
sensor platform is a crucial parameter that determines the perfor-
Terfenol (TbFe2) 698 1750 0.35 94
mance of the biosensor. To obtain a high Q value, ideally the ME Terfenol-D 653 1100 0.75 43
materials should have minimal energy loss during oscillation. The MetglasÒ 2605SCa 643 30 0.97 100e110
ability of a ME material to convert magnetic energy to mechanical MetglasÒ 2826MBb 626 12 0.98 100e110
energy e or vice versa e is characterized by the magnetomechanical a
Amorphous alloy of Fe81B13.5Si3.5C2.
b
coupling coefficient, k, which is defined as [41]: Amorphous alloy of Fe40Ni38Mo4B18.
 Author's personal copy
84 S. Li et al. / Intermetallics 30 (2012) 80e85
Fig. 4. (a) Shift in the resonant frequency of 500
100
4 mm ME biosensor and control sensor as the sensors are exposed to increasingly higher concentrations of Salmonella.
Detection limit better than 50 CFU/mL. (b) The SEM images of the control sensor surface after the experiment, showing negligible binding of Salmonella cells. (c) SEM micrographs of
the measurement biosensor at the end of the experiment, showing a very large number of bound Salmonella cells.
Therefore, the ideal ME material for construction of a resonator
is not one with a large magnetostriction but a material that can
exhibit a high magnetomechanical coupling coefficient with
reasonable magnetostriction. Soft magnetic materials exhibit a slim
MeH loop with a very small remanent magnetization (or rema-
nence). This is favorable for minimizing the energy loss and
obtaining high Q values when driven by an external magnetic field.
Fe-rich metallic glasses are good candidates for constructing high
performance ME resonators due to their mechanical properties and
magnetic softness. Because of the amorphous structure in these
materials, the magnetic domains can be easily switched, over-
coming the misalignment of easy axes. The magnetic anisotropy in
metallic glasses is dominated by internal stresses generated by the
magnetoelastic coupling process. These stresses can be eliminated
through annealing, thus dramatically increasing the magnetic
softness.
Fig. 3 shows the normalized MeH loop of two amorphous alloys
that have been investigated for construction of ME biosensor
resonators. Fig. 3(a) shows the MeH loop of as-cast METGLASÒ
2826MB alloy ribbon (28 mm in thickness); Fig. 3(b) shows the
magnetization hysteresis loop of Fe80B20 film fabricated by elec-
trochemical deposition. Fig. 3 shows the soft magnetic properties of
the alloys, as demonstrated by the slim loops. The coercive field (Hc)
and the squareness, which is defined as the ratio of the remanent
(Mr) to saturation (Ms) magnetization, of these two alloys are
summarized in Table 1.
The Fe80B20 film measured here exhibits harder magnetic
properties than the bulk FeeB alloy. One of the reasons is due to the
Cu/Cr substrate attached on the FeeB film. The sample was
measured in the as-deposited state without heat treatment. Strong
internal stresses/strains exist in the FeeB films as well as at the
interface between the film and the substrate which affect the
observed coercive field of the whole sample. Since the thickness of
the films was thin and the magnetization was measured parallel to
the film surface, the coercive field of the film should be higher than
that of bulk FeeB alloy due to geometric anisotropy. Still, the
deposited FeeB films exhibit relative soft magnetic properties and
slim hysteresis loop that is favorable in obtaining a high magne-
tomechanical coefficient with a small loss of heat.
Fig. 3 shows that Fe-based metallic glasses possess very soft
magnetic properties, which result in a high magnetomechanical
coupling coefficient. The magnetomechanical coupling coefficients
of several common magnetostrictive materials are list in Table 2.
Magnetomechanical coupling coefficients, as high as 0.97e0.98,
have been achieved in Fe-rich metallic glasses, MetglasÒ 2605 SC
and MetglasÒ 2826MB, by annealing the material ribbon in
a magnetic field [36]. Metallic glasses exhibit significantly high
magnetomechanical coupling coefficients than ferromagnetic
materials with crystallized microstructure structure.
4.2. Detection of Salmonella in liquids using ME biosensors
ME biosensors constructed through co-sputtering and a non-
traditional lift-off process were used to detecting Salmonella in
liquid. Fig. 4 shows the resonant frequency shifts of the ME
measurement and control sensors after the sensors were exposed
to Salmonella suspensions with increasing concentrations. Fig. 4
shows that the measurement ME biosensor are very sensitive to
Salmonella. A measurable decrease in the resonant frequency was
observed when the biosensor was exposed to a concentration of
50 CFU/mL of Salmonella. The resonant frequency continuously
decreased with the introduction of each successive concentration
(5
101 CFU/mL through 5
105 CFU/mL) of Salmonella for
a change totaling w100 kHz in the resonant frequency. The control
sensor showed a very small frequency change due to non-specific
binding.
The surface of the tested sensors were observed using SEM after
exposure to the Salmonella containing solutions. The resultant SEM
micrographs of the control and measurement sensors are shown in
Fig. 4(b) and (c), respectively. The corresponding SEM images
showed dense coverage of the Salmonella cells on the measurement
sensor surface. Few cells were observed on the control sensor
surface. The results confirm that the shifts in the resonant
frequency of the measurement ME biosensor are due to the binding
of the Salmonella cells on the biosensor surface.
The results demonstrate the high performance of ME biosensors
constructed from amorphous ferromagnetic alloys.
5. Conclusions
The ever-growing need for rapid and sensitive pathogen
detection has created an increased interest in the research and
 Author's personal copy
S. Li et al. / Intermetallics 30 (2012) 80e85
development of biosensor systems. Free-standing magnetoelastic
(ME) biosensors have recently been investigated for use as high
performance biosensors. The wireless and disposable features of
the ME biosensor allow real-time, in situ pathogen monitoring in
large agricultural fields or of large quantities of food products. Due
to the amorphous microstructure of metallic glasses, these glasses
exhibit soft magnetic properties and are, therefore, ideal candidates
for construction of ME biosensors. ME biosensors made from
amorphous Fe80B20 alloy were fabricated. The detection of Salmo-
nella in liquid using these ME biosensors was demonstrated. The
results show that the detection limit is better than 50 CFU/mL.
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