Textile handicraft for equipment-free fabrication of wearable low-cost diagnostic sensors for body-fluid based pathology
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Published:2023-02-09
Issue:3
Volume:33
Page:034005
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ISSN:0960-1317
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Container-title:Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
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language:
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Short-container-title:J. Micromech. Microeng.
Author:
Laha Sampad,
Chakraborty SumanORCID
Abstract
Abstract
We report a low-cost, rapid and single-step method for fabricating microfluidic cloth-based analytical devices (μCADs) without involving any sophisticated instruments, simply by painting hydrophobic zones on cotton cloth using a liquid mixture primarily composed of polyurethane-based commercial wood finish. The mixture needs to be applied on cloth using a paint brush and subsequently dried in open air for only around 5 min to complete the process of hydrophobic barrier deposition. The painted regions show extreme hydrophobicity and demonstrate excellent barrier integrity and chemical inertness with a wide range of liquids, reagents, solvents and biological fluids. Channels of different designs are fabricated with sufficient dimensional reproducibility, despite adhering to manual painting step. Using this simple fabrication method, a colorimetric glucose detection assay is demonstrated on cloth-based devices, which has been found to be highly accurate as benchmarked with a laboratory-referenced biochemistry analyzer. The inherent simplicity and cost-effectiveness of this method is likely to foster sustainable growth of rural handicrafts specialized in manufacturing low-cost wearable sensors for rapid point-of-care diagnostics.
Funder
Indian Council of Medical Research
Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India
SERB, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India
Subject
Electrical and Electronic Engineering,Mechanical Engineering,Mechanics of Materials,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials