CAREER: Calibration-Free Potentiometric Sensors for Biofluid Analysis

The U.S. healthcare system typically focuses on diagnostics using expensive analytical equipment in centralized hospital-based laboratories. Although these tests have high degrees of accuracy, the equipment requires trained personnel to operate and maintain. There is growing interest in other types of diagnostic tests for (i) the monitoring of pandemics, (ii) routine screening in clinics or offices, (iii) national security, and (iv) personalized medicine and at-home diagnostics.

To realize effective decentralized testing, this NSF CAREER project will develop ready-to-use sensing platforms and prototypes through the functionalization of 3D-printed material. Using 3D printing for the development of analytical devices allows for rapid optimization, superior reproducibility, and mass production. This project also has a strong educational component with a focus on encouraging high school students and undergraduate students to contribute to chemical research. Moreover, this program aims to broaden participation in engineering through outreach activities.

This NSF CAREER project focuses on the development, interrogation, and utilization of fully printed, calibration-free solid-contact potentiometric systems. The project will take advantage of the inherent benefits of additive manufacturing (i.e., 3D-printing), (i) extreme reproducibility, (ii) control over spatial dimensions, (iii) diverse material compatibility and (iv) mass production capabilities towards the development of highly stable, low-cost and mass producible ion-selective and reference electrodes.

The unique properties of methacrylate-based membranes (e.g., tunable ion-mobility and hydrophobicity) will be exploited towards achieving low detection limits, enhanced selectivity and intrinsic biofouling capabilities. The project's main research objective is to develop reliable solid-contact potentiometric systems that not only overcome current analytical limitations encountered by traditional sensors but are fabricated using technologies that are conducive to mass production.

The project also aims to exploit 3D-printing towards the fabrication of efficient calibration-free solid contact potentiometric sensors, stable and robust reference electrodes, enzymatic biosensors and the development of next generation bio(sensing) technologies for use at the point-of-care.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.