A smartphone-based centrifugal mHealth platform implementing hollow daisy-shaped quick response chip for hematocrit measurement

Due to the ever-increasing challenge of emerging and reemerging infections on global health, the development of POCT tools has been propelled. However, conventional point-of-care testing methods suffer from several limi-tations, including cumbersome operation, long detection times, and low accuracy, which hamper their wide-spread application. Compared to traditional disease diagnostic equipment, mobile health platforms offer several advantages, including portability, ease of operation, and automated analysis of detection results through recognition algorithms. Consequently, they hold great promise for the future. Here, we developed a smartphone-based centrifugal mHealth platform implementing daisy-shaped quick response chip for hematocrit measure-ment. The centrifugal microfluidic chip is combined with a smartphone through a back-clip-on mobile phone adapter whose control circuit is designed with low power consumption to enable the platform to operate without requiring a high-power source that is inconvenient to carry, thereby achieving the goal of portability. Concur-rently, we designed a quick response chip featuring a unique hollow daisy structure that is in line with the properties of hematocrit detection. The distinctive configuration of the chip enables adequate centrifugal force to be supplied for hematocrit detection. Additionally, our customized quick response code recognition algorithm is able to recognize this chip, facilitating non-experts in performing hematocrit intelligent recognition with their smartphones.

Automated summary

Due to the increasing challenge of emerging infections, the development of portable health platforms, such as smartphone-based centrifugal mHealth platforms, has gained significance. These platforms offer advantages like portability, ease of use, and automated analysis of results. In this study, a daisy-shaped quick response chip is developed for hematocrit measurement, and a customized recognition algorithm enables non-experts to perform hematocrit measurement using smartphones.