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Large-scale fabrication of ion-selective electrodes for simultaneous detection of Na+, K+, and Ca2+ in biofluids using a smartphone-based potentiometric sensing platform

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Abstract

A significant bottleneck exists for mass-production of ion-selective electrodes despite recent developments in manufacturing technologies. Here, we present a fully-automated system for large-scale production of ISEs. Three materials, including polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene terephthalate and polyimide, were used as substrates for fabricating ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) using stencil printing, screen-printing and laser engraving, respectively. We compared sensitivities of the ISEs to determine the best material for the fabrication process of the ISEs. The electrode surfaces were modified with various carbon nanomaterials including multi-walled carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon black, and their mixed suspensions as the intermediate layer to enhance sensitivities of the electrodes. An automated 3D-printed robot was used for the drop-cast procedure during ISE fabrication to eliminate manual steps. The sensor array was optimized, and the detection limits were 10–5 M, 10–5 M and 10–4 M for detection of K+, Na+ and Ca2+ ions, respectively. The sensor array integrated with a portable wireless potentiometer was used to detect K+, Na+ and Ca2+ in real urine and simulated sweat samples and results obtained were in agreement with ICP-OES with good recoveries. The developed sensing platform offers low-cost detection of electrolytes for point-of-care applications.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the correspondingauthor on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Kanyapat Teekayupak gratefully thanks to the 100th Anniversary Chulalongkorn University Fund for Doctoral Scholarship. This research was supported by National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT5-TRG63001-02). Additional support was provided by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) 122Z721 and 120N615. The author also gratefully acknowledges SciSpec Co., Ltd. for validation method with ICP-OES and Metabolic Disease in Gastrointestinal and Urinary System Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University for urine samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrochemistry and Optical Spectroscopy Center of Excellence (EOSCE), Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Kanyapat Teekayupak, Orawon Chailapakul, Tugba Ozer & Nipapan Ruecha

  2. Metallurgy and Materials Science Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Atchara Lomae, Charles S. Henry, Tugba Ozer & Nipapan Ruecha

  3. Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, 34700, Türkiye

    Ismail Agir

  4. Metabolic Disease in Gastrointestinal and Urinary System Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Natthaya Chuaypen & Thasinas Dissayabutra

  5. School of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    Charles S. Henry

  6. Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Chemical-Metallurgical Engineering, Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, 34220, Türkiye

    Tugba Ozer

  7. Health Biotechnology Joint Research and Application Center of Excellence, Esenler, Istanbul , 34220, Türkiye

    Tugba Ozer

Authors
  1. Kanyapat Teekayupak
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  2. Atchara Lomae
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Contributions

Kanyapat Teekayupak: Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing—Original Draft. Atchara Lomae: Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing—Original Draft. Ismail Agir: Investigation, Methodology, Software, Writing—Review & Editing. Natthaya Chuaypen: Real sample resource. Thasinas Dissayabutra: Real sample resource. Charles S. Henry: Investigation, Visualization, Writing—Review & Editing. Orawon Chailapakul: Investigation, Supervision. Tugba Ozer: Conceptualization, Supervision, Visualization, Writing—Review & Editing. Nipapan Ruecha: Conceptualization, Project administration, Supervision, Visualization, Writing—Review & Editing.

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Correspondence to Orawon Chailapakul, Tugba Ozer or Nipapan Ruecha.

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Teekayupak, K., Lomae, A., Agir, I. et al. Large-scale fabrication of ion-selective electrodes for simultaneous detection of Na+, K+, and Ca2+ in biofluids using a smartphone-based potentiometric sensing platform. Microchim Acta 190, 237 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-05818-8

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