Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto , 80 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H6, Canada.
Anal Chem. 2013 Sep 17;85(18):8809-16. doi: 10.1021/ac402003v. Epub 2013 Sep 3.
Digital microfluidics (DMF) is an emerging technique for manipulating small volumes of liquids. DMF is particularly well suited for analytical applications as it allows automated handling of discrete samples, and it has been integrated with several inline analysis techniques. However, examples of the integration of DMF with electroanalytical methods are notably scarce, and those that have been reported rely on external electrodes that impose limitations on complexity. To combine the full capabilities of DMF with voltammetry, we designed a platform featuring a three-electrode electrochemical cell integrated in a microfabricated DMF device, removing the need for external electrodes and allowing for complete droplet control. The performance of the DMF/voltammetry system is comparable to that of a commercial screen printed electrode, and the new platform was applied to generating a calibration series for acetaminophen with a limit of detection of 76 μM and good precision (4% average RSD), all with minimal human intervention. We propose that this platform and variations thereof may be a useful new tool for microscale electroanalysis and will be a complementary system to existing inline analysis techniques for DMF.
数字微流控(DMF)是一种新兴的操控小体积液体的技术。DMF 特别适用于分析应用,因为它允许对离散样本进行自动化处理,并且已经与几种在线分析技术集成。然而,将 DMF 与电化学方法集成的例子明显很少,并且已经报道的那些例子依赖于外部电极,这对复杂性施加了限制。为了将 DMF 的全部功能与伏安法结合,我们设计了一个平台,该平台具有集成在微制造 DMF 设备中的三电极电化学池,无需外部电极,并且可以完全控制液滴。DMF/伏安法系统的性能可与商业丝网印刷电极相媲美,并且该新平台已应用于生成对乙酰氨基酚的校准系列,检测限为 76 μM,精密度良好(平均 RSD 为 4%),所有这些都只需最少的人为干预。我们提出,该平台及其变体可能是微尺度电分析的有用新工具,并且将是 DMF 现有在线分析技术的补充系统。