3D-printed electrochemical platform with multi-purpose carbon black sensing electrodes

Area of Science:

• Electrochemistry and Analytical Chemistry
• Additive Manufacturing and Materials Science

Background:

• Development of portable and cost-effective analytical devices is crucial for point-of-care diagnostics.
• Traditional analytical systems often require complex fabrication and expensive components, limiting accessibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and fabricate a fully 3D-printed portable system integrating batch injection analysis (BIA) and an electrochemical platform.
• To evaluate the analytical performance of the 3D-printed device for bioanalytical applications, specifically the detection of adrenaline.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a multimaterial 3D printer with conductive, flexible, and insulating filaments to fabricate the BIA and electrochemical cells.
• Optimized BIA operational parameters using a [Fe(CN)6]4-/3- redox probe.
• Evaluated the device's performance for adrenaline detection using voltammetric techniques and amperometric detection.

Main Results:

• The complete system, including BIA and an 8-electrode electrochemical platform, was 3D-printed in 3.4 hours at a low cost (~$1.2 per unit).
• Printed electrodes exhibited high-fidelity 3D features (90-98%) and fast heterogeneous rate constants.
• The device achieved excellent analytical performance for adrenaline detection, including high repeatability (RSD ≤ 6%), a wide linear range (5-40 µmol L-1), a low limit of detection (0.61 µmol L-1), and high analytical frequency (494 h-1).
• Successful detection of adrenaline in spiked artificial urine samples with recovery rates from 87% to 118%.

Conclusions:

• Additive manufacturing enables the creation of integrated, portable, and inexpensive electrochemical analytical systems.
• The 3D-printed BIA-electrochemical platform demonstrates significant potential for rapid and reliable analysis of biologically relevant compounds in complex matrices.