Electrochemical paper-based biosensors for point-of-care diagnostics: Detection methods and applications

Abstract

Personalized health care (PHC) includes personalized, preventive, predictive and participatory approaches that are significant in new diagnostics. This personal health care requires fast, accurate and minimally invasive diagnostic tools that make it possible to evaluate and monitor the process of disease by diagnosing specific disease biomarkers. Point-of-care testing (POCT) involves a wide range of diagnostic tools that meet this purpose. Electrochemical paper-based devices (ePADs) have been introduced as simple, inexpensive, portable and disposable measurement devices to be used in many POCT applications, especially in handling emergencies and outpatient as well as remote usages. Electrochemical detection is a real quantitative detection method with better sensitivity, selectivity and detection limits than indirect measurement methods. In recent years, there has been a revolution in quantitative detections by POCT, thanks to the benefits of electro­chemical sensors and paper substrates. In this paper, recent developments in ePADs, focus­ing on the properties of paper, reasons for its use in the devices, techniques of device and electrode fabrications, and their application particularly in clinical diagnosis, are reviewed.