Issue 22, 2014

Improving sensitivity of gold nanoparticle-based lateral flow assays by using wax-printed pillars as delay barriers of microfluidics

Abstract

Although lateral flow assays (LFAs) are currently being used in some point-of-care applications (POC), they cannot still be extended to a broader range of analytes for which higher sensitivities and lower detection limits are required. To overcome such drawbacks, we propose here a simple and facile alternative based on the use of delay hydrophobic barriers fabricated by wax printing so as to improve LFA sensitivity. Several wax pillar patterns were printed onto the nitrocellulose membrane in order to produce delays as well as pseudoturbulence in the microcapillary flow. The effect of the proposed wax pillar-modified devices was also mathematically simulated, corroborating the experimental results obtained for the different patterns tested afterwards for detection of HIgG as model protein in a gold nanoparticle-based LFA. The effect of the introduction of such wax-printed pillars was a sensitivity improvement of almost 3-fold compared to the sensitivity of a conventional free-barrier LFA.

Graphical abstract: Improving sensitivity of gold nanoparticle-based lateral flow assays by using wax-printed pillars as delay barriers of microfluidics

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 Aug 2014
Accepted
05 Sep 2014
First published
09 Sep 2014

Lab Chip, 2014,14, 4406-4414

Improving sensitivity of gold nanoparticle-based lateral flow assays by using wax-printed pillars as delay barriers of microfluidics

L. Rivas, M. Medina-Sánchez, A. de la Escosura-Muñiz and A. Merkoçi, Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 4406 DOI: 10.1039/C4LC00972J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements