It is very important to monitor and control pH during cell and tissue culture. On-line pH monitoring provides valuable information on cell metabolic processes and living environment. A novel simple method to real-time measure pH during cell and tissue culture has been experimentally demonstrated using a tapered optical fiber coated with polyaniline. The fiber is tapered to produce the leaking mode in the sensing film. The absorption coefficient and the refractive index of the polyaniline film will vary with different pH values and resultantly change the optical spectral responses. The optical power droped with the increase of the pH at 1042nm. Such a device is sensitive to pH allowing the determination of pH values ranging from 5 to 11 and the resolution of the order of 0.03. Comparing to the conventional pH glass electrode, this optical measurement has smaller size, faster response and can avoid the contamination of the cell and tissue culture fluid.

Date Published: 22 June 2013
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 8769, International Conference on Optics in Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology (icOPEN2013), 87692O (22 June 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2021048

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8769:
International Conference on Optics in Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology (icOPEN2013)
Chenggen Quan; Kemao Qian; Anand Asundi, Editor(s)