4.5 Article

Rapid On-Site Detection of Illicit Drugs in Smuggled Samples with a Portable Electrochemical Device

期刊

CHEMOSENSORS
卷 10, 期 3, 页码 -

出版社

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/chemosensors10030108

关键词

electrochemical sensors; square-wave voltammetry; screen-printed electrodes; electrochemical profiling; illicit drugs; forensic analysis; Raman spectrometer; FTIR spectrometer; on-site detection

资金

  1. European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme [833787]

向作者/读者索取更多资源

This study presents an electrochemical device that uses affordable electrodes for the analysis of illicit drugs, offering a promising alternative for rapid and low-cost testing in the field. The identification of drugs is based on the oxidation potential, and a customized script is designed for user-friendly identification. Comparison with other methods shows the potential of electrochemical profiling for on-site testing.
The smuggling of illicit drugs urges the development of new tools for rapid on-site identification in cargos. Current methods rely on presumptive color tests and portable spectroscopic techniques. However, these methods sometimes exhibit inaccurate results due to commonly used cutting agents, the colorful nature of the sample or because the drugs are smuggled in common goods. Interestingly, electrochemical sensors can deal with these specific problems. Herein, an electrochemical device is presented that uses affordable screen-printed electrodes for the electrochemical profiling of several illicit drugs by square-wave voltammetry (SWV). The identification of the illicit compound is based on the oxidation potential of the analyte. Hence, a library of electrochemical profiles is built upon the analysis of illicit drugs and common cutting agents. This library allows the design of a tailor-made script that enables the identification of each drug through a user-friendly interface (laptop or mobile phone). Importantly, the electrochemical test is compared by analyzing 48 confiscated samples with other portable devices based on Raman and FTIR spectroscopy as well as a laboratory standard method (i.e., gas chromatography-mass spectrometry). Overall, the electrochemical results, obtained through the analysis of different samples from confiscated cargos at an end-user site, present a promising alternative to current methods, offering low-cost and rapid testing in the field.

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