A Mediated Enzymatic Electrochemical Sensor Using Paper-Based Laser-Induced Graphene.

Laser-induced graphene (LIG) has been applied in many different sensing devices, from mechanical sensors to biochemical sensors. In particular, LIG fabricated on paper (PaperLIG) shows great promise for preparing cheap, flexible, and disposable biosensors. Distinct from the fabrication of LIG on polyimide, a two-step process is used for the fabrication of PaperLIG. In this study, firstly, a highly conductive PaperLIG is fabricated. Further characterization of PaperLIG confirmed that it was suitable for developing biosensors. Subsequently, the PaperLIG was used to construct a biosensor by immobilizing glucose oxidase, aminoferrocene, and Nafion on the surface. The developed glucose biosensor could be operated at a low applied potential (-90 mV) for amperometric measurements. The as-prepared biosensor demonstrated a limit of detection of (50-75 µM) and a linear range from 100 µM to 3 mM. The influence of the concentration of the Nafion casting solution on the performance of the developed biosensor was also investigated. Potential interfering species in saliva did not have a noticeable effect on the detection of glucose. Based on the experimental results, the simple-to-prepare PaperLIG-based saliva glucose biosensor shows great promise for application in future diabetes management.

Development of cellulosic material-based microchannel device capable of fluorescence immunoassay of microsamples.

Microfluidic immunoassay devices are a promising technology that can quickly detect biomarkers with high sensitivity. Recently, many studies implementing this technology on paper substrates have been proposed for improving cost and user-friendliness. However, these studies have identified problems with the large volume of sample required, low sensitivity, and a lack of quantitative accuracy and precision. In this paper, we report a novel structure implemented as a cellulosic material-based microchannel device capable of quantitative immunoassay using small sample volumes. We fabricated microfluidic channels between a transparent cellophane film and water-resistant paper to facilitate loading of small-volume samples and reagents, with a 40-µm-wide immunoreaction matrix constructed in the center of the microchannel using highly precise photolithography. A fluorescence sandwich immunoassay for C-reactive protein (CRP) was successfully implemented that required only a 1-µL sample volume and a 20-min reaction time. We confirmed that the limit of detection of the device was 10-20 ng/mL with a coefficient of variation under 5.6%, which is a performance level comparable to conventional plastic-based human CRP enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. We expect that such devices will lead to the elimination of large amounts of medical waste from the use of ubiquitous diagnostics, a result that is consistent with environmental sustainability goals.