Highly Sensitive Electrochemical Sensor for Uric Acid Using Additively Manufactured Miniaturized Microelectrodes for Point of Care Application

Abstract

Point of care (PoC) biofluid diagnostics is hindered by the fundamental limitations of traditional electrochemical platforms, namely their complex fabrication, prohibitive cost, and reliance on benchtop instruments. To address these challenges, a simple additive manufacturing based sensor fabrication strategy was employed to develop a miniaturized platform to make it compatible with portable electrochemical devices, creating an advanced diagnostic system capable of detecting the hyperuricemia biomarker in serum samples. In this work, a rapid and ultrasensitive diagnostic device utilizing a 3D printed carbon conductive electrode with a carboxylic group mediated enzymatic platform was developed to detect uric acid. This study introduces a highly sensitive 3D printed microelectrode integrated with a wireless potentiostat for the rapid detection of uric acid (UA). The developed platform exhibits excellent analytical performance in the concentration range of 10-500 µM, with an ultralow detection limit of 0.025 µM achieved by chronoamperometry (CA) techniques. The device demonstrates improved selectivity, high sensitivity, and 28-day stability without interference. The real sample study was carried out using CA in serum sample and recovery percentage found as 96 to 98%. The results also illustrate seamless integration with miniaturized electrochemical platform acquired from a portable potentiostat detection system, and user-friendly operation. Overall, this platform enables scalable and customizable fabrication of miniaturized biosensors, paving the way for decentralized clinical diagnostics, point of care testing, wearable health monitoring, and field deployable biosensing applications.