Comparison of surface functionalization techniques on silica and soft glasses for optical fibre sensing applications

Abstract

We report the comparison of three different surface functionalization processes using two different organosilanes, 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MTS) and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and polyelectrolytes (PE) on the internal surface of tellurite, bismuth, lead silicate F2 and silica glass capillaries. We find that polyelectrolyte and organosilane coatings can be attached on the internal surfaces of the capillary of all four glass materials. Furthermore, PE provides more specific binding sites for streptavidin than MTS and APTS for all four glass materials.