Electrogenerated chemiluminescence detection in paper-based microfluidic sensors

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Paper microfluidics offer a low-cost platform for portable diagnostics.
• Electrochemical luminescence (ECL) provides sensitive detection capabilities.
• Integrating these technologies can lead to novel sensing platforms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize a novel paper microfluidic sensor integrated with electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of using inkjet printing for sensor fabrication.
• To explore the use of mobile camera phones for luminescence-based detection.

Main Methods:

• Inkjet printing of paper microfluidic substrates.
• Integration with screen-printed electrodes (SPEs).
• Detection of analytes via ECL reaction of tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) (Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)).
• Analysis of luminescence using both conventional photodetectors and mobile camera phones.

Main Results:

• Successful fabrication of disposable paper microfluidic-ECL sensors.
• Detection of 2-(dibutylamino)ethanol (DBAE) at 0.9 μM and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) at 72 μM using a conventional photodetector.
• Demonstrated detection of DBAE down to 250 μM using a mobile camera phone by analyzing red pixel intensity.

Conclusions:

• The developed paper microfluidic-ECL sensors are simple, inexpensive, and disposable.
• The system enables sensitive analyte detection without traditional photodetectors.
• Smartphone-based detection offers a promising avenue for portable and accessible point-of-care diagnostics.