Development of a novel microfluidic biosensing platform integrating micropillar array electrode and acoustic microstreaming techniques

Chaozhan Chen; Bin Ran; Bo Liu; Xiaoxuan Liu; Ya Liu; Minbo Lan; Richard Manasseh; Yonggang Zhu

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2022.114703

Development of a novel microfluidic biosensing platform integrating micropillar array electrode and acoustic microstreaming techniques

Biosens Bioelectron. 2023 Mar 1:223:114703. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2022.114703. Epub 2022 Oct 2.

Authors

Chaozhan Chen¹, Bin Ran¹, Bo Liu¹, Xiaoxuan Liu², Ya Liu³, Minbo Lan⁴, Richard Manasseh⁵, Yonggang Zhu⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Science, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China; School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China; Center for Microflows and Nanoflows, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China.
² School of Science, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China; Center for Microflows and Nanoflows, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China.
³ BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518083, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Single-Cell Omics, BGI-Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518100, China.
⁴ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, PR China.
⁵ School of Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, 3122, Australia.
⁶ School of Science, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China; School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China; Center for Microflows and Nanoflows, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518055, PR China. Electronic address: zhuyonggang@hit.edu.cn.

PMID: 36563526
DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2022.114703

Abstract

Quantifying biomarkers at the early stage of the disease is challenging due to the low abundance of biomarkers in the sample and the lack of sensitive techniques. This article reports the development of a novel microfluidic electrochemical biosensing platform to address this challenge. The electrochemical sensing is achieved by utilizing a micropillar array electrode (μAE) coated with 3D bimetallic Pt-Pd nanotrees to enhance the sensitivity. A bubble-based acoustic microstreaming technique is integrated with the device to increase the contact of analyte molecules with the surface of electrodes to further enhance the electrochemical performance. The current density of Pt-Pd NTs/μAE with acoustic microstreaming is nearly 22 times that of the bare planar electrode in potassium ferrocyanide solution. The developed biosensor has demonstrated excellent sensing performance. For hydrogen peroxide detection, both the Pt-Pd NTs/μAE and acoustic microstreaming contribute to the sensitivity enhancement. The current density of the Pt-Pd NTs/μAE is approximatively 28 times that of the bare μAE. With acoustic microstreaming, this enhancement is further increased by nearly 1.6 times. The platform has a linear detection range of 5-1000 μM with a LOD of 1.8 μM toward hydrogen peroxide detection, while for sarcosine detection, the linear range is between 5 and 100 μM and LOD is 2.2 μM, respectively. Furthermore, the sarcosine biosensing shows a high sensitivity of 667 μA mM^-1∙cm^-2. Such a sensing platform has the potential as a portable device for high sensitivity detection of biomarkers.

Keywords: Acoustic microstreaming; Electrochemical biosensing; High sensitivity; Micropillar array electrode; Sarcosine.

MeSH terms

Biosensing Techniques* / methods
Electrochemical Techniques / methods
Electrodes
Hydrogen Peroxide
Microfluidics*
Platinum / chemistry
Sarcosine

Substances

Hydrogen Peroxide
Sarcosine
Platinum