Portable Instrument for Hemoglobin Determination Using Room-Temperature Phosphorescent Carbon Dots

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Hemoglobin determination is crucial for diagnosing various medical conditions.
• Existing methods may lack portability or require complex laboratory setups.
• Carbon dots (CDs) offer unique photoluminescent properties for biosensing applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a portable and reconfigurable platform for sensitive hemoglobin determination.
• To utilize the inner filter quenching effect of room-temperature phosphorescent carbon dots.
• To integrate a light-emitting diode (LED) and photodiode for a compact analytical system.

Main Methods:

• A portable platform was designed incorporating an LED exciter and a photodiode detector.
• The system leverages the inner filter quenching of phosphorescent carbon dots by H2O2 in hemoglobin presence.
• Reaction parameters (pH, reagent concentration, time) and device variables (LED voltage, sensitivity) were optimized.

Main Results:

• The reconfigurable platform demonstrated adaptability for carbon dots with varying luminescence.
• Optimized conditions led to sensitive hemoglobin detection.
• A low detection limit of 6.2 nM and a measurement range up to 125 nM were achieved.

Conclusions:

• A novel, portable, and reconfigurable platform for hemoglobin analysis was successfully developed.
• The inner filter quenching method using phosphorescent carbon dots provides a sensitive and efficient detection strategy.
• This technology holds promise for point-of-care hemoglobin testing.