Conductive Silver/Carbon Fiber Films for Rapid Detection of Human Coronavirus

Polymerase chain reaction has gained attention since the outbreak of novel coronavirus in 2019. Due to its high specificity and capability for early detection, it is considered a standard method for the diagnosis of infectious diseases. However, the conventional thermocyclers used for nucleic acid amplification are not suitable for point-of-care testing applications, as they require expensive instruments, high-power consumption, and a long turnaround time. To suppress the widespread of the pandemic, there is an urgent need for the development of a rapid, inexpensive, and portable thermal cycler. Therefore, in this paper, we present a conductive silver/carbon fiber film-based thermal cycler with low power consumption (<5 W), efficient heating (~4.5 °C/s), low cost (