Chapter 13 - Biosensors Based on Microfluidic Devices Lab-on-a-Chip and Microfluidic Technology

Abstract

A biosensor is an analytical device that is constructed by incorporating a biological recognition element immobilized on a physicochemical transducer and measures one or more analytes. Microfluidics is a generalized term that denotes, individually or in combination, fluids behavior, precise control, and manipulation at the sub-millimeter scale. Microfluidic systems provide throughput processing, enhance transport for controlling the flow conditions, increase the mixing rate of different reagents, reduce sample and reagents volume (down to nanoliter scale), and increase the sensitivity of detection. Therefore in the scope of these advantages, the integration of microfluidics in biosensor technology offers new opportunities for future biosensing applications including portability, real-time detection, improved accuracy, increased sensitivity and selectivity, and simultaneous analysis of different analytes in a single device. A lab-on-a-chip (LOC) is an integrated device that offers several laboratory functions on a single platform; areas typically ranging from square millimeters to a few square centimeters. LOCs deal with the handling of extremely small fluid volumes down of less than a picolitre. The present review is targeted at representing the advances and applications in the area of microfluidic-based biosensing. The fabrication and designing of microfluidics platform technology for biosensors is described herein. The review provides examples from applications of microfluidics-based devices in the literature and demonstrates the advantages of merging microfluidic and biosensing technologies. Such integration promises in the future, biosensing for emerging areas of biological engineering, biomedical studies, point-of-care diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and precision agriculture.