Microfluidic Preconcentration Chip with Self-Assembled Chemical Modified Surface for Trace Carbonyl Compounds Detection

Carbonyl compounds in water sources are typical characteristic pollutants, which are important indicators in the health risk assessment of water quality. Commonly used analytical chemistry methods face issues such as complex operations, low sensitivity, and long analysis times. Here, we report a silicon microfluidic device based on click chemical surface modification that was engineered to achieve rapid, convenient and efficient capture of trace level carbonyl compounds in liquid solvent. The micro pillar arrays of the chip and microfluidic channels were designed under the basis of finite element (FEM) analysis and fabricated by the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technique. The surface of the micropillars was sputtered with precious metal silver and functionalized with the organic substance amino-oxy dodecane thiol (ADT) by self-assembly for capturing trace carbonyl compounds. The detection of ppb level fluorescent carbonyl compounds demonstrates that the strategy proposed in this work shows great potential for rapid water quality testing and for other samples with trace carbonyl compounds.