A temperature-based diagnostic approach for paper-based microfluidics

Abstract

We present the potential of a quantitative temperature-based diagnostic approach for paper-based microfluidics, extending the work of Terzis et al. (J Colloid Interface Sci 504:751–757, 2017) which demonstrated a significant heat release at the liquid front during capillary-driven flows in cellulosic materials. Here, we investigate the applicability of biological fluids to provide a temperature rise at the imbibition front, and successfully demonstrate a monotonic trend between the level of local temperature rise and the concentration of specific analytes. In addition, effects of paper thickness and width are also examined.