Developing novel functional laser-induced carbon nanofibers for miniaturized electroanalytical biosensors

• Applicant: Nongnoot Wongkaew, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Analytical Chemistry ; Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials
• Term: from 2021 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 457100614

• Final Report Year: 2025

Final Report Abstract

The ability to detect analytes of interest at a point of need (PON) is becoming of importance in the fields of healthcare, environmental monitoring, agriculture and food/beverage industry, and bioprocess monitoring. PON testing based electrochemical detection has proven to be a robust and efficient means in providing quantitative results as exemplified in the form of the well-known commercial glucometer. Owing to their high surface area, feasibility of massproduction at low-cost, and tailorable properties, laser-induced carbon nanofibers (LCNFs) are attractive as functional and sensitive transducers in microanalytical systems, facilitating affordable PON devices with favourable analytical performance. In our pioneered study, manufacturing conditions and electroanalytical performance of LCNFs have been thoroughly studied. Moreover, LCNFs-embedded mononanocatalysts for non-enzymatic detection has been explored. Taking a step further, in this project, we successfully developed a novel LCNFs-contained bimetallic nanocatalysts, i.e., Pt/Ni-LCNFs, and explored their utility for H2O2 and glucose detection in physiological pH. The Pt/Ni-LCNFs have been characterized intensively towards their morphological, chemical properties, and electroanalytical performance. Moreover, a synergistic effect between Pt and Ni has been realized, i.e., Pt can trigger in-situ generation of OH- which is favour for Ni in electrocatalytic reaction of glucose under physiological pH. To make the functional LCNFs suitable for PON applications, a miniaturized device integrated free-standing LCNFs was initially developed. Apart from their costeffectiveness, the LCNFs have proven to remarkably enhance overall analytical performance within the miniaturized device. Moreover, the device was constructed with interdigitated electrode configuration to enable redox cycling, facilitating greater detection sensitivity than conventional 3- or 2-electrode configurations. The LCNFs were afterwards integrated into a lateral-flow assay, a format well-known e.g. from COVID-19 rapid tests, and successfully employed for DNA hybridization detection. Finally, owing to their excellent permeability the LCNF electrodes have been employed for capture and detection of biomarker from breath aerosol, making them promising for further integration into a face mask as a non-invasive diagnostic tool. Lastly, although it was proven that LCNFs are an attractive electrode material for future PON devices the project has pointed out some challenges, e.g., storage stability and selectivity, and limitations that need to be addressed to promote LCNF utility in real-world applications.

Publications

• Freestanding 3D-interconnected carbon nanofibers as high-performance transducers in miniaturized electrochemical sensors. Microchimica Acta, 189(11).
  Perju, Antonia; Baeumner, Antje J. & Wongkaew, Nongnoot
  
• Flow-Through Carbon Nanofiber-Based Transducer for Inline Electrochemical Detection in Paper-Based Analytical Devices. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 15(38), 44641-44653.
  Perju, Antonia; Holzhausen, Ferdinand; Lauerer, Anna-Maria; Wongkaew, Nongnoot & Baeumner, Antje J.
  
• Investigating nanocatalyst-embedding laser-induced carbon nanofibers for non-enzymatic electrochemical sensing of hydrogen peroxide. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 415(18), 4487-4499.
  Bruckschlegel, Christoph; Schlosser, Marc & Wongkaew, Nongnoot
  
• Carbon nanofiber electrodes for flow-through electrochemical sensors and sensor. WO 2023/046675
  Baeumner, Antje, Wongkaew, Nongnoot & Perju, Antonia-teodora
  
• Front Cover: Laser‐Induced Carbon Nanofiber‐Based Redox Cycling System (ChemElectroChem 5/2024). ChemElectroChem, 11(5).
  Perju, Antonia & Wongkaew, Nongnoot
  
• Functional nanofibers in microfluidic biosensors, Habilitation thesis
  Wongkaew, N.
  
• Novel Electrospun Zwitterionic Nanofibers for Point‐Of‐Care Nucleic Acid Isolation Strategies Under Mild Conditions. Advanced Materials Interfaces, 11(30).
  Wieberneit, Alissa J.; Wongkaew, Nongnoot & Baeumner, Antje J.
  
• Laser-Induced Carbon Nanofibers as Permeable Nonenzymatic Sensor for Biomarker Detection in Breath Aerosol. Analytical Chemistry, 97(8), 4293-4298.
  Fiori, Selene; Bruckschlegel, Christoph; Weiss, Katharina; Su, Keyu; Foedlmeier, Michael; Della Pelle, Flavio; Scroccarello, Annalisa; Compagnone, Dario; Baeumner, Antje J. & Wongkaew, Nongnoot
  
• Non-enzymatic electrochemical sensors for point-of-care testing: Current status, challenges, and future prospects. Talanta, 291, 127850.
  Bruckschlegel, Christoph; Fleischmann, Vivien; Gajovic-Eichelmann, Nenad & Wongkaew, Nongnoot