Carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-based electroanalysis

Electroanalytical devices with pins and thread

This work describes the adaptive use of conventional stainless steel pins-used in unmodified form or coated with carbon paste-as working, counter, and quasi-reference electrodes in electrochemical devices fabricated using cotton thread or embossed omniphobic R(F) paper to contain the electrolyte and sample. For some applications, these pin electrodes may be easier to modify and use than printed electrodes, and their position and orientation can be changed as needed. Electroanalytical devices capable of multiplex analysis (thread-based arrays or 96-well plates) were easily fabricated using pins as electrodes in either thread or omniphobic R(F) paper.

Enzymatic amplification-free nucleic acid hybridisation sensing on nanostructured thick-film electrodes by using covalently attached methylene blue

Amplification-free (referring to enzymatic amplification step) detection methodologies are increasing in biosensor development due to the need of faster and simpler protocols. However, for maintaining sensitivity without this step, highly detectable molecules or very sensitive detection techniques are required. The nanostructuration of transducer surfaces with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) or both in nanohybrid configurations has been employed in this work for DNA hybridisation sensing purposes. Methylene blue (MB), covalently attached to single stranded DNA, (ssDNA) was incubated with a complementary sequence immobilized on nanostructured screen-printed electrodes (AuSPEs). Although CNTs can increase notoriously the signal of the marker, adsorptive properties should also be considered when bioassays are performed because non-specific adsorption (NSA) phenomena are magnified. In this work, strategies for decreasing NSA were thoroughly evaluated for the detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) on CNTs-nanostructured screen-printed electrodes. Among them, the employ of UV-radiation or long incubation times (72h) allowed obtaining higher signals for the complementary strand with respect to the non-complementary one. The use of CNTs/AuNPs nanohybrids, together with the use of streptavidin-biotin (ST-B) interaction allows the higher differentiation (with a 3.5 ratio) in the genosensing of M. pneumoniae.

Universal mobile electrochemical detector designed for use in resource-limited applications

This paper describes an inexpensive, handheld device that couples the most common forms of electrochemical analysis directly to "the cloud" using any mobile phone, for use in resource-limited settings. The device is designed to operate with a wide range of electrode formats, performs on-board mixing of samples by vibration, and transmits data over voice using audio--an approach that guarantees broad compatibility with any available mobile phone (from low-end phones to smartphones) or cellular network (second, third, and fourth generation). The electrochemical methods that we demonstrate enable quantitative, broadly applicable, and inexpensive sensing with flexibility based on a wide variety of important electroanalytical techniques (chronoamperometry, cyclic voltammetry, differential pulse voltammetry, square wave voltammetry, and potentiometry), each with different uses. Four applications demonstrate the analytical performance of the device: these involve the detection of (i) glucose in the blood for personal health, (ii) trace heavy metals (lead, cadmium, and zinc) in water for in-field environmental monitoring, (iii) sodium in urine for clinical analysis, and (iv) a malarial antigen (Plasmodium falciparum histidine-rich protein 2) for clinical research. The combination of these electrochemical capabilities in an affordable, handheld format that is compatible with any mobile phone or network worldwide guarantees that sophisticated diagnostic testing can be performed by users with a broad spectrum of needs, resources, and levels of technical expertise.