Development of micropillar array electrodes for highly sensitive detection of biomarkers

Abstract

PDMS-based micropillar array electrodes with increased surface area and surface modification were developed to detect biomarkers with high sensitivity.

3D Electrochemical Sensor and Microstructuration Using Aerosol Jet Printing

“…The proposed microstructuration can be adopted in applications that require high sensitivity. Moreover, those geometrical features are comparable with the ones obtained in other works [ 14 , 17 , 18 ] with lithographic processes instead of the hereby proposed fully additive, digital and maskless production process, thus allowing greater flexibility and opening to new possible geometries.…”

“…The latter is usually obtained using electrochemical processes [ 16 ] and aims to adsorb analytes, while the former is often based on well-defined geometries such as pillars. Pillar-based structures are well explored in the literature where different parameters such as pillars width, distance, layout and shape are taken into consideration [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Those affect two main parameters: the before-mentioned surface area and the diffusion layer of the analytes.…”

“…Those affect two main parameters: the before-mentioned surface area and the diffusion layer of the analytes. The latter is because 3D features have a non-planar diffusion layer and that can interact with the produced current if the diffusion layers of different 3D features overlap or not [ 18 ]. The reported fabrication methods involve different techniques such as direct growth, photolithography, reactive ion etching, template synthesis and 3D printing [ 20 ].…”

A low-cost and high-performance 3D micromixer over a wide working range and its application for high-sensitivity biomarker detection

“…Sarcosine is known as a cancer biomarker for prostate cancer [71][72][73][74][75] and has been applied for early cancer detection through the electrochemical method. [76][77][78][79] The biomarker sarcosine was adopted for electrochemical detection by using the μEA sensor on the above-mentioned electrochemical detection platform.…”

Injection moulding of micropillar arrays: a comparison of poly(methyl methacrylate) and cyclic olefin copolymer

“…Micropillar arrays as a value-adding component in microfluidic chips have enabled a wide range of advanced applications, including sensing (Chen et al 2020), diagnosis (Li et al 2010), separation (Dalili et al 2019), 3D cell culture (Liu et al 2017;Kim et al 2008) and genome amplification (Tian et al 2018;Panaro et al 2005). With larger surface area, micropillar arrays as 3D working electrodes have been shown to enhance sensing performance in microchip-based electrochemical detection systems (Chen et al 2020;Prehn et al 2011;Liu et al 2020). Owing to the capillary effect, a well-defined liquid film can be formed between pillars with carefully engineered spacing and aspect ratio in an array (Semprebon et al 2014), enabling further applications.…”