A novel screen-printed electrode array for rapid high-throughput detection

A novel multi-channel electrode array sensing device was fabricated by screen-printing techniques using 96-well plate as the template. To confirm its practical value, we developed a one-step preparation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) doped electrode array by an ink containing MWCNTs, which was applied to the simultaneous detection of a variety of biological samples and environmental pollutants. Results demonstrated that the designed sensing device could carry out the multiple measurements of different analytes at the same time, while MWCNTs enhanced the electrocatalytic activity of electrodes toward electroactive molecules. The required amount of each sample was only ～200 μL. Moreover, the excellent differential pulse voltammetric (DPV) response toward dopamine, hydroquinone and catechol was obtained and the detection limits was determined to be 0.337, 0.289 and 0.369 μM, respectively. Comparing it with the traditional screen-printed electrode (SPE), this sensing device possesses the advantages of high-throughput, fast electron transfer rate for electrodes, short-time analysis and low sample consumption.     

HPLC with electrode array detection

Summary A fast method for the determination of amitrole in drinking and ground water is described. Amitrole is separated from other substances by HPLC. For the determination a highly sensitive coulometric electrode array detector is applied. Tap and well water with concentrations down to 0.1 g amitrole/L can be determined without any enrichment steps. The detection limit of amitrole added to Viennese tap water is 0.05 g/L.     

Carbon nanofiber electrode array for the detection of lead

A nanoelectrode array of vertically aligned carbon nanofibers was evaluated for the detection of Pb^2 + by anodic stripping voltammetry. The achieved detection limit of 1.73 nM is well below the environmental guidelines. The approach provides a safer alternative to the mercury electrodes commonly used for the detection of heavy metals.     

Characterisation of the interdigitated electrode array with tantalum silicide electrodes separated by insulating barriers

A novel design of an interdigitated electrode array impedimetric sensor is proposed with electrode digits separated by an insulating barrier. This configuration results in that the major part of the electric current between electrodes follows close to the surface of the barrier and not through the solution thus permitting to enhance the sensitivity to possible chemical reactions on its surface. As a model system the effect of electrostatically assembled polyelectrolyte layers deposited using layer-by-layer method on the sensor impedance was studied. The sensitivity of the devices depends on the barrier height and is considerably enhanced comparing to conventional flat sensor structures. Devices may be used as a transducer for direct label-free biosensor development.     

Flow injection based microfluidic device with carbon nanotube electrode for rapid salbutamol detection

A microfabicated flow injection device has been developed for in-channel electrochemical detection (ECD) of a β-agonist, namely salbutamol. The microfluidic system consists of PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) microchannel and electrochemical electrodes formed on glass substrate. The carbon nanotube (CNT) on gold layer as working electrode, silver as reference electrode and platinum as auxiliary electrode were deposited on a glass substrate. Silver, platinum, gold and stainless steel catalyst layers were coated by DC-sputtering. CNTs were then grown on the glass substance by thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with gravity effect and water-assisted etching. 100-μm-deep and 500-μm-wide PDMS microchannels fabricated by SU-8 molding and casting were then bonded on glass substrate by oxygen plasma treatment. Flow injection and ECD of salbutamol was performed with the amperometric detection mode for in-channel detection of salbutamol. The influences of flow rate, injection volume, and detection potential on the response of current signal were optimized. Analytical characteristics, such as sensitivity, repeatability and dynamic range have been evaluated. Fast and highly sensitive detection of salbutamol have been achieved. Thus, the proposed combination of the efficient CNT electrode and miniaturized lab-on-a-chip is a powerful platform for β-agonists detection.     

Lab-on-a-Chip device with laser-patterned polymer electrodes for high voltage application and contactless conductivity detection

A laser-patterned microchip electrophoresis device with integrated polymer electrodes for DC high voltages and AC capacitively-coupled contactless conductivity detection was developed. Electrophoresis separations comparable to devices with metal electrodes were obtained, at approximately 20 times lower cost.     

Redox cycling with facing interdigitated array electrodes as a method for selective detection of redox species

A pair of interdigitated ultramicroelectrodes (UMEs) is used to electrochemically detect a weak reductor (dopamine) in the presence of a stronger one (K(4)[Fe(CN)(6)]). In the mixture of both reductors, one of the two interdigitated electrodes (the generator electrode) is used to oxidize both species at 700 mV vs. Ag/AgCl, followed by subsequent (selective) reduction of the oxidized dopamine at 400 mV. A regenerated dopamine molecule can thus be oxidized several times (redox cycling) and enable selective detection even in the presence of the stronger reductor. In order to obtain high redox cycling efficiency, we designed and realized platinum electrodes with widths of 2 and 4 microm and spacing of 2 microm, which gave redox cycling efficiencies of 9 and 4 respectively. Using this electrode design, a dopamine/K(4)[Fe(CN)(6)] selectivity of 2 could be obtained.     

离子选择电极阵列土壤中硝态氮测定

土壤硝态氮反映土壤短期氮素供应水平,实时了解土壤硝态氮的含量为精准农业和农业面源污染防控提供支撑,因此,在线实时检测土壤硝态氮方法突破就显得十分迫切。土壤硝态氮中的硝酸根离子在土壤中的高水溶性和流动性为全固态硝酸根离子选择电极高敏感检测土壤中硝态氮提供了条件,固态硝态氮离子选择电极的离子选择膜反应硝酸根离子在被测溶液中的浓度。采用全固态硝酸根离子选择电极,且与温度电极和pH电极融合组成电极阵列对土壤饱和溶液中的硝态根离子进行检测。设计了高输入阻抗运算放大电路对电极信号进行采集,并通过微处理控制蠕动泵完成土壤硝态氮待测溶液连续流动测量及实时传输结果。实验结果表明,电极响应时间≤15 s,斜率-51.63 mV/decade,线性范围10-5-10-2.2 mol/L,最低检测限10-5.23 mol/L。相对标准差在0.78%-4.47%范围内,加标回收率均在90%-110%以内。与国家标准紫外可见分光光度法测试结果相比,相关系数（R2）为0.9952,为土壤硝态氮在现场检测奠定技术基础。     

Determination of isoflavones in nutritional supplements by HPLC with coulometric electrode array detection

In the present study eleven soy and/or red clover based supplements were analyzed after acid hydrolysis or direct extraction with 70% aqueous ethanol for their content of total isoflavone aglucones and free aglucones plus glucosides by high performance liquid chromatography in gradient elution mode coupled with coulometric electrode array detection. The ratio of the individual isoflavones and the conjugation pattern turned out to be highly variable in the investigated products. Whereas red clover based supplements contained isoflavones (mainly formononetin and biochanin A) exclusively in free form, soy containing preparations showed variable proportions of conjugated isoflavones. The total isoflavone aglucone content in products intended for direct consumption ranged from 12.0 to 45.6?mg per capsule or tablet, whereas the content of free aglucones and glucosides was between 12.2 and 51.6?mg per capsule or tablet. The experimentally determined isoflavone aglucone content was in agreement with or higher than the manufacturer’s claim in 6 of the 11 investigated products. Expression of the isoflavone content as a sum of free aglucones and glucosides raised the number of matched claims to 8.     

Simultaneous detection of five antibiotics in milk by high-throughput suspension array technology

A new suspension array technology is proposed for the simultaneous quantitative determination of five antibiotics—tylosin, tetracycline, gentamicin, streptomycin, and chloramphenicol in milk. A novel treatment of milk samples for suspension array with diethyl ether was performed which greatly reduced the interference of the disturbing components in milk on the reaction results with no significant effect on detection sensitivity. Compared with using biotin labeled monoclonal antibody, using of secondary antibody-biotin make the detection sensitivity further improved. The minimum detectable concentration in samples of tylosin, tetracycline, gentamicin, streptomycin, and chloramphenicol were 0.3, 1.5, 4, 20, and 25 ng/ml, respectively, and the working ranges of samples were 6-400, 7-300, 8-200, 90-3000 and 70-8000 ng/ml, respectively. The mean recovery was 89.38-113.73% with a standard deviation within 16.62%. The suspension assay technology is powerful for the fast quantitative analysis of multi-antibiotics residue in milk.     

A novel paper-based device coupled with a silver nanoparticle-modified boron-doped diamond electrode for cholesterol detection

A novel paper-based analytical device (PAD) coupled with a silver nanoparticle-modified boron-doped diamond (AgNP/BDD) electrode was first developed as a cholesterol sensor. The AgNP/BDD electrode was used as working electrode after modification by AgNPs using an electrodeposition method. Wax printing was used to define the hydrophilic and hydrophobic areas on filter paper, and then counter and reference electrodes were fabricated on the hydrophilic area by screen-printing in house. For the amperometric detection, cholesterol and cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) were directly drop-cast onto the hydrophilic area, and H₂O₂ produced from the enzymatic reaction was monitored. The fabricated device demonstrated a good linearity (0.39 mg dL⁻¹ to 270.69 mg dL⁻¹), low detection limit (0.25 mg dL⁻¹), and high sensitivity (49.61 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻²). The precision value for ten replicates was 3.76% RSD for 1 mM H₂O₂. In addition, this biosensor exhibited very high selectivity for cholesterol detection and excellent recoveries for bovine serum analysis (in the range of 99.6–100.8%). The results showed that this new sensing platform will be an alternative tool for cholesterol detection in routine diagnosis and offers the advantages of low sample/reagent consumption, low cost, portability, and short analysis time.     

A compact electrode assembly for voltammetric measurements with solid electrodes

Summary An electrode assembly is presented consisting of a cell compartment of plexiglass and an electronic circuit for automatic performance. It was especially designed for the use with polarographs PAR 264, 264 A, 384 and 384 B when working with solid electrodes. A special attempt was made to reduce the metallic parts of the assembly to a minimum in order to avoid contamination risks when analyzing heavy metals.

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Kompakter Elektrodenstand für voltammetrische Messungen mit Festkörperelektroden

Zusammenfassung Ein Elektrodenstand wird beschrieben, der aus einer Meßzelleneinheit aus Plexiglas und einem elektronischen Schaltkreis für automatischen Betrieb besteht. Er wurde speziell für die Polarographen-PAR-Modelle 264 und 384 für voltammetrische Messungen mit Festkörperelektroden konzipiert. Um bei Schwermetallanalysen das Kontaminationsrisiko möglichst gering zu halten, wurden metallische Teile der Zelle weitgehendst vermieden.

     

Inexpensive device for measurements with ion-selective and pH electrodes

The design and construction of a simple device for measuring ionic concentrations (or pH) with ion-selective electrodes are described. The automated system includes a special electronic circuit with an operational amplifier, a signal conditioner and a personalcomputer. A digital multimeter can be used if automation is not required. The results obtained in tests with iodide-, chloride- and nitrate-selective electrodes and glass electrodes show very good agreement with those obtained with sophisticated commercial apparatus.     

Specific detection of oxytetracycline using DNA aptamer-immobilized interdigitated array electrode chip

An electrochemical sensing system for oxytetracycline (OTC) detection was developed using ssDNA aptamer immobilized on gold interdigitated array (IDA) electrode chip. A highly specific ssDNA aptamer that bind to OTC with high affinity was employed to discriminate other tetracyclines (TCs), such as doxycycline (DOX) and tetracycline (TET). The immobilized thiol-modified aptamer on gold electrode chip served as a biorecognition element for the target molecules and the electrochemical signals generated from interactions between the aptamers and the target molecules was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV). The current decrease due to the interference of bound OTC, DOX or TET was analyzed with the electron flow produced by a redox reaction between ferro- and ferricyanide. The specificity of developed EC-biosensor for OTC was highly distinguishable from the structurally similar antibiotics (DOX and TET). The dynamic range was determined to be 1-100 nM of OTC concentration in semi-logarithmic coordinates.     

Carbon nanofiber electrode array for electrochemical detection of dopamine using fast scan cyclic voltammetry

A carbon nanofiber (CNF) electrode array was integrated with the Wireless Instantaneous Neurotransmitter Concentration Sensor System (WINCS) for the detection of dopamine using fast scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV). Dopamine detection performance by CNF arrays was comparable to that of traditional carbon fiber microelectrodes (CFMs), demonstrating that CNF arrays can be utilized as an alternative carbon electrode for neurochemical monitoring.     

An electrode array for electrochemical immuno-sensing using the example of impedimetric tenascin C detection

Electrochemical biosensors allow simple, fast and sensitive analyte detection for various analytical problems. Especially immunosensors are favourable due to specificity and affinity of antigen recognition by the associated antibody. We present a novel electrode array qualified for parallel analysis and increased sample throughput. The chip has nine independent sample chambers. Each chamber contains a circular gold working electrode with a diameter of 1.9 mm that is surrounded by a ring-shaped auxiliary electrode with a platinum surface. The corresponding silver/silver chloride reference electrodes are embedded in a sealing lid. The chip is open to the full range of electrochemical real-time detection methods. Among these techniques, impedance spectroscopy is an attractive tool to detect fast and label-free interfacial changes originating from the biorecognition event at the electrode surface. The capabilities of the novel electrode array are demonstrated using the example of tumour marker tenascin C detection. This glycoprotein of the extracellular matrix is expressed in cancerous tissues, especially in solid tumours such as glioma or breast carcinoma. Electrodes covered with specific antibodies were exposed to tenascin C containing samples. Non-occupied binding sites were identified using a secondary peroxidase-conjugated antibody that generated an insoluble precipitate on the electrode in a subsequent amplification procedure. The charge transfer resistance obtained from impedimetric analysis of ferri-/ferrocyanide conversion at the electrode served as analytic parameter. This assay detected 14 ng (48 fmol) tenascin C that is sufficient for clinical diagnostics. The electrode surface could be regenerated at least 20-fold without loss of its analytical performance.     

Optical fiber spectroelectrochemical device for detection of catechol at press-transferred single-walled carbon nanotubes electrodes

A new long-optical-pathway spectroelectrochemical cell for absorptometric measurements in the UV–Vis region was developed. This cell consists of two optical fibers brought face to face and fixed on the working electrode support. As a proof of concept, the spectroelectrochemical cell was applied to the determination of catechol using a press-transferred single-walled carbon nanotube film as the working electrode. Voltabsorptometry was demonstrated to be very helpful in understanding the mechanism of catechol oxidation. The experiments showed that the main oxidation product is o-benzoquinone, but other soluble side products are also observed. Multivariate calibration explains the selection of 390 nm as the best wavelength for the univariate absorptometric determination of catechol, avoiding the interference of oxidation side products. Catechol was quantified using both the electrochemical and the spectroscopic signal, demonstrating that this hybrid technique is an autovalidated analytical method. Dual detection of catechol was also carried out using amperometric spectroelectrochemistry. Finally, spectroelectrochemistry was used to quantify catechol in the presence of hydroquinone.     

Impedimetric immunosensor with on-chip integrated electrodes for high-throughput screening of liver fibrosis markers

This paper deals with an immunoassay based on microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology with integrated electrochemical cells on a chip and locally copolymerized semi-insulating membrane of poly o-phenylenediamine (PPD) with antibodies. The hepatic fibrosis marker lamin (LN) and its antibody anti-lamin (α-LN) are selected to illustrate the functionality of the sensor. MEMS technology endows this sensor with the features of a small size, a high reproducibility, a low cost, and the potential integration with IC circuitry for portable applications. The sensor is characterized by impedance spectroscopy and calibrated by cyclic voltammetry. The active-site density is found to be directly related to the copolymerization cycles and antibody concentration. The results show that controlling the current in the range from −16 to −13 μA at 0.8 V provides the optimized semi-insulation characteristic that is most suitable for all detections. The impedance analysis reveals that a low-frequency measurement for concentration-dependent impedance is applicable for such a sensor. The evaporation of the electrolyte is found to be responsible for the impedance changes at a very high frequency. The sensitivity of the immunosensor to LN is 0.6208%/(ng/mL) with a linear detection concentration range between 0 and 90 ng/mL. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Home-made capillary array electrophoresis for high-throughput amino acid analysis

A capillary array electrophoresis (CAE) with confocal rotary scanner for high-throughput carboxytetramethylrhodamine succinimidyl ester (TAMRA)-labeled amino acid (AA) analysis is presented. Performance of the CAE setup was evaluated with AA samples. Up to 128 capillaries could be detected in parallel. For the first time, the device was applied to separate the enantiomers of isoleucine, cysteine, and glutamic acid with cyclodextrin-modified electrolytes by capillary zone electrophoresis. Baseline separation of seven AAs is also demonstrated using micellar electrokinetic chromatography method.     

Encoded microcarriers for high-throughput multiplexed detection

Since the decoding of the human genome, the quest to obtain more and more molecular information from smaller and smaller samples is intensifying. Today the burden of this challenge is being borne by planar arrays, but the quality of the data provided by this approach is limited by variations in performance between different arrays. Suspension arrays of encoded microspheres provide higher quality data, but the amount of molecular information that can be acquired with them is limited by the number of codes that can be distinguished in the same sample. New methods of preparing encoded particles promise to alleviate this problem, but in the face of a growing number of new technologies it is sometimes difficult to decide which, if any, will succeed. Herein we appraise these new forms of encoded particle critically, and ask if they can deliver the necessary multiplexing power and whether they will perform well in multiplexed assays.