In situ gold-nanoparticle electrogeneration on gold films deposited on paper for non-enzymatic electrochemical determination of glucose

Abstract

This work describes the development and evaluation of a new electrochemical platform based on the sustainable generation of gold-nanoparticles on paper-based gold-sputtered electrodes. The disposable porous paper electrode is combined with screen-printed electrodes for ensuring a precise electrogeneration of nanoparticles and also for the evaluation of these simple, versatile and low-cost microfluidic devices. Two types of chromatographic paper with different thicknesses have been evaluated. Paper gold working electrodes modified with gold nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and cyclic voltammetry using potassium ferrocyanide as a common redox probe, showing an improved electrochemical performance when compared to bare gold electrodes. The platform has been applied to the non-enzymatic determination of glucose, molecule of enormous interest. The porous gold structure made by sputtering on paper, modified with electrogenerated nanoparticles allowed precise and accurate determination of the analyte in beverages at low potential.

Screen-Printed Electrodes Modified with Metal Nanoparticles for Small Molecule Sensing

“…Glucose levels in serum and blood can also be analyzed with electrodeposited porous gold nanostructures [36] or drop-casted gold NPs onto graphene nanocomposites [28]. Sugars were also quantified in beverages with gold NPs electrodeposited onto a gold-sputtered paper, obtaining similar results to those obtained using a commercial enzymatic kit [64]. In addition, advanced devices were also recently tested, like an enzymatic fuel cell to monitor glucose and oxygen in human saliva [88].…”

“…This phenomenon observed with copper can be explained because nucleation and growth seem to take place at different times so two different particle size are obtained. Taking into account the deposition time, a suitable time window has to be applied when using sputtered paper as the substrate, as a larger time can produce gold detachment [64].…”

Screen-Printed Electrodes: Promising Paper and Wearable Transducers for (Bio)Sensing

“…In this context, the special features of paper as support material for the preparation of diagnostic devices, together with those of screen-printed platforms, represents an important advance for easy self-testing and point-of-care (POC) assessment. Table 2 summarizes the analytical characteristics and the main properties of some recent and representative methods applied to analytes of clinical interest in biological samples [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. Some selected examples are discussed below.…”

Autocatalytic Metallization of Fabrics Using Si Ink, for Biosensors, Batteries and Energy Harvesting

“…Paper, a ubiquitous nonwoven fabric (costing ≈$0.001 dm −2 ), is commonly used for printed text and packaging. Unlike planar flexible substrates made of synthetic polymers (e.g., polyethylene terephthalate (PET)), high‐tech devices made of paper can contain electronic and microfluidic elements on the same (single) substrate . Although there has been substantial interest in using cellulose fabrics for emerging applications in electronics and sensing, deposition of electronic materials, especially metals, within the complex 3D geometry has been challenging without modifying the porous structure …”

“…Vacuum deposition methods can also be used to deposit organic and inorganic electrical conductors on fabrics . Physical vapor deposition methods such as thermal evaporation or magnetron sputtering can only produce conductive structures on the surface of the fabrics and they do not produce a conformal coating around the fibers within the fabric . Furthermore, both physical and chemical vapor deposition methods involving vacuum processing (such as thermal evaporation or atomic layer deposition) are expensive and/or mostly limited to the deposition of thin films with sub‐micrometer thickness.…”