Abstract
In recent years, efforts in the development of lab-on-a-chip (LoC) devices for point-of-care (PoC) applications have increased to bring affordable, portable, and sensitive diagnostics to the patients’ bedside. To reach this goal, research has shifted from using traditional microfabrication methods to more versatile, rapid, and low-cost options. This work focuses on the benchtop fabrication of a highly sensitive, fully transparent, and flexible poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microfluidic (μF) electrochemical cell sensor. The μF device encapsulates 3D structured gold and platinum electrodes, fabricated using a shape-memory polymer shrinking method, which are used to set up an on-chip electrochemical cell. The PDMS to PDMS-structured electrode bonding protocol to fabricate the μF chip was optimized and found to have sufficient bond strength to withstand up to 100 mL/min flow rates. The sensing capabilities of the on-chip electrochemical cell were demonstrated by using cyclic voltammetry to monitor the adhesion of murine 3T3 fibroblasts in the presence of a redox reporter. The charge transfer across the working electrode was reduced upon cell adhesion, which was used as the detection mechanism, and allowed the detection of as few as 24 cells. The effective utilization of simple and low cost bench-top fabrication methods could accelerate the prototyping and development of LoC technologies and bring PoC diagnostics and personalized medicine to the patients’ bedside.
Highlights
Sustainable global healthcare is a long sought-after idea [1]
The PDMS device should be strong enough to withstand the pressures generated from pressurized flow through the microfluidic channel
Structured high surface area electrodes into all-PDMS μF devices
Summary
Sustainable global healthcare is a long sought-after idea [1]. Innovation in modern health care diagnostic techniques continues to improve patient outcomes, but the cost of bringing the technology to patients worldwide increases concomitantly. Ever since the inception of the portable glucose meter, scientists and engineers have been interested in lab-on-a-chip (LoC) devices for point-of-care (PoC) detection as low-cost and portable solutions to health screening, diagnostics, and personalized medicine [2,3]. To fabricate such devices on a mobile platform, LoC technology requires an all-in-one solution comprised of sensing and conducting elements within a microfluidic channel of sub-millimeter dimension [4]. These techniques are very effective at producing high-resolution patterns at the micro- to nanoscale on a wide variety
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