Smartphone-Based Pressure Signal Readout Device Combined with Bidirectional Immunochromatographic Test Strip for Dual-Analyte Detection

Pressure has been a facile signal readout mode for developing point-of-care testing devices due to the attractive features of portability, accessibility, rapidity, and affordability. Herein, a pressure signal readout device was designed by integrating two homemade needle-type piezoresistive transducers, a controller for a thin-film piezoresistive sensor and a smartphone. Meanwhile, a bidirectional immunochromatographic test strip was designed as an immunoreaction platform for dual-analyte detection. Using PdCuPt nanoparticles with catalase-mimic activity as signal tags, the pressure signals triggered by catalyzed aerogenous reaction were monitored by the pressure signal readout device and read on a smartphone with the Bluetooth module. In this proof-of-principle work, imidacloprid and carbendazim were detected as model analytes. The dynamic ranges for quantitating imidacloprid and carbendazim are 20 pg mL(-1) to 50 ng mL(-1) and 50 pg mL(-1) to 50 ng mL(-1), respectively. The whole immunoassay process was completed within 16 min. The recovery values for imidacloprid and carbendazim spiked into herbal medicines are 82.0- 110.0 and 84.0-116.0%, respectively, verifying its reliability for real sample detection. As the smartphone APP and controller for a thin-film piezoresistive sensor contain 12 signal channels, the system can be easily extended to meet the demand for high-throughput screening.

Automated summary

A pressure signal readout device was designed by integrating two homemade needle-type piezoresistive transducers, a controller for a thin-film piezoresistive sensor, and a smartphone. A bidirectional immunochromatographic test strip was designed as an immunoreaction platform for dual-analyte detection. Using PdCuPt nanoparticles as signal tags, the pressure signals triggered by catalyzed aerogenous reaction were monitored by the readout device and the results were displayed on a smartphone with the Bluetooth module. The system can be easily expanded for high-throughput screening.