Sustainable and Efficient: A Reusable DIY Three-Electrode Base Plate for Microfluidic Electroanalysis and Biosensing

A DIY smart sensor

28 October 2021

Electrochemical sensors could be used in a broader range of applications, thanks to a DIY design for an inexpensive, reusable microfluidic electroanalysis device.

Biomolecules and other analytes of interest in a liquid sample can often be detected by passing the fluid over an electrochemical sensor connected to a computer. However, the sensor component can only be used once and typically requires specialized equipment and skill to make. As the detection of target molecules requires an iterative optimization process, the use of disposable sensors is unsustainable.

Now, two researchers at Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology in Thailand have designed a cheap, easy-to-make electrochemical sensor platform that can be reused after polishing the electrodes.

The electrodes could be chemically modified to enable detection of certain targets. When modified with glucose oxidase, for example, the device showed high performance as a blood glucose biosensor.

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References

1. Analytical Chemistry 93, 7557–7561 (2021). doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c00996