Hand-drawn electrode based disposable paper chip for artificial sweat analysis using impedance spectroscopy

Abstract

Low cost, disposable paper based electrical sensor to examine the analyte concentration in an extremely small volume of sample solution is essential for environmental and healthcare applications. For the development of paper based devices, sophisticated instruments are essential to pattern electrode on the top surface of the paper. In most cases, such fabricated device results in direct contact with the analyte solution on the surface of the electrode during electrical detection and leads to high electrical double layer capacitance. In this work, we have focused to reduce the double layer capacitance by fabricating hand drawn electrode paper sensor utilising the reverse side of the paper. This design acts as a sample storage and facilitate impedimetric sensing of ionic concentration of analyte solution using a few microlitre. Droplet formation at the bottom of the paper in the confined area is visually monitored to reduce sample wastage. The interaction between two different electrode materials (graphite and silver) on the paper substrate with the different volume and concentration of the electrolyte is analysed to improve the robustness and sensitivity of the measurement. Simultaneously, we observed a reduction in the electrical double layer effect on the low sample volumes. The proposed paper based sensor shows the enhanced impedance stability on silver electrode patterned paper chip than graphite electrode paper chip to detect the different ionic concentration of artificial sweat sample. Finally, it demonstrates that paper chip has great potential as a disposable diagnostics sensor in healthcare applications.