Paper-based electroanalytical sensing platforms

Abstract

We report the fabrication of paper-based graphite screen printed electroanalytical sensors. Consideration is taken as to determine the most suitable paper-based material enabling reproducible, robust and low cost effective sensor development, after which the paper-based sensor is electrochemically characterised and utilised for the sensing of the important model analytes NADH and nitrite. The analytical performance of the sensors are compared and contrasted to that of commercially available graphite based screen printed sensors fabricated upon traditional polyester substrates. It is found that the paper-based screen printed sensors offers competitive analytical performance when compared with traditional screen printed sensors and other graphite based electrodes offering limits of detection of 1.8 μM and 15.1 μM for NADH and nitrite respectively. As such, these screen printed paper-based analytical devices offer a innovative alternative to the well-established screen printing history of electrodes for use in electroanalytical sensing; the ability to fabricate screen printed electroanalytical sensors which are highly flexible provides the potential for a new class of point-of-care diagnostic devices that are ultra-low-cost, easy to use, and can be designed specifically for use in developing countries.