Electrophoresis, Vol.31, No.18, 3083-3089, 2010
Fabrication of a microfluidic Ag/AgCl reference electrode and its application for portable and disposable electrochemical microchips
This report describes a convenient method for the fabrication of a miniaturized, reliable Ag/AgCl reference electrode with nanofluidic channels acting as a salt bridge that can be easily integrated into microfluidic chips. The Ag/AgCl reference electrode shows high stability with millivolt variations. We demonstrated the application of this reference electrode in a portable microfluidic chip that is connected to a USB-port micro-electrochemical station and to a computer for data collection and analysis. The low fabrication cost of the chip with the potential for mass production makes it disposable and an excellent candidate for real-world analysis and measurement. We used the chip to quantitatively analyze the concentrations of heavy metal ions (Cd2+ and Pb2+) in sea water. We believe that the Ag/AgCl reference microelectrode and the portable electrochemical system will be of interest to people in microfluidics, environmental science, clinical diagnostics, and food research.
Keywords:Electrochemical chip;Heavy metal ion detection;Integrated Ag/AgCl electrode;Microfluidics;Portable device