Voltammetric analysis on a disposable microfluidic electrochemical cell

A microfabricated electrochemical cell comprising PDMS-based microchannel and in-channel gold microelectrodes was fabricated as a sensitive and a miniature alternative to the conventional electroanalytical systems. A reproducible fabrication procedure enabled patterning of multiple microelectrodes integrated within a PDMS-based fluidic network. The active area of each electrode was 200 μm × 200 μm with a gap of 200 μm between the electrodes which resulted in a higher signal to noise ratio. Also, the PDMS layer served the purpose of shielding the electrical interferences to the measurements. Analytes such as potassium ferrocyanide; amino acid: cysteine and nucleoside: guanosine were characterized using the fabricated cell. The microchip was comparable to bulk electrochemical systems and its applicability was also demonstrated with flow injection based rapid amperometric detection of DNA samples. The device so developed shall find use as a disposable electrochemical cell for rapid and sensitive analysis of electroactive species in various industrial and research applications.