Laserjet Printed Micro/Nano Sensors and Microfluidic Systems: A Simple and Facile Digital Platform for Inexpensive, Flexible, and Low‐Volume Devices

Abstract

AbstractA facile and digital do‐it‐yourself technique is proposed to fabricate inexpensive sensors on flexible substrates (paper, cloth, and plastic film). A set of office‐grade equipment (i.e., laserjet printer, thermal laminator, computer‐aided paper cutter), and commercially available supplies (i.e., baking wax paper, furniture restoration metal‐leaf) are used. Forming electrodes through traditional printing and defining a fluidic confinement region through crafting practice enable fabrication of a wide range of devices without requiring customized specialty instruments, costly infrastructure, and complicated fabrication steps, unlike previously introduced methods. Three different levels of experiments are designed to assess the comprehensiveness and responsiveness of the proposed method to the needs of existing research fields. The performances of the fabricated features at each level are evaluated to cover various application domains in environmental monitoring and biomedical diagnostics utilizing conductometric, colorimetric, biochemical, and chemoresistive detection principles. Devices with varying size of features, from nanometers to centimeters, are fabricated and characterized. This method provides an alternative route to decentralized production of low‐cost flexible sensors and other devices, with a minimal step, time, and facilities. The operation of such devices is simple and can be further empowered by smartphones for data analysis and transmission.