Formaldehyde is a toxic water-soluble organic matter. Its detection methods and detection limit have been attracting more attentions. An AC electrokinetic (ACEK)-enhanced capacitive sensing method for rapid detection of trace formaldehyde in liquid is presented using commercial microelectrode chips. By this method, a detection limit is achieved as low as 0.01 ppm (μg/ml) within a 60 s response time. It is proved that the trace amount of formaldehyde in common solvents can also be effectively detected. As a complement, the capacitance change rate dependence on testing voltage and frequency is investigated. Compared to other existing detection methods, this ACEK-based capacitive method is a low cost, high sensitive and fast detection means, which shows a great application prospect in industry and research such as food safety and specimen cleaning.

References

1. 1)
  - 11. Gupta, S., Chaubey, K.K., Singh, S.V., et al: ‘Immunoreactivity to culture filtrate proteins of mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in naturally infected goat and sheep sera’, Adv. Animal Veterinary Sci., 2015, 3, (6), pp. 347–353 (doi: 10.14737/journal.aavs/2015/3.6.347.353).
2. 2)
  - 10. Li, S., Ren, Y., Cui, H., et al: ‘Alternating current electrokinetics enhanced in situ capacitive immunoassay’, Electrophoresis, 2015, 36, (3), pp. 471–474 (doi: 10.1002/elps.201400284).
3. 3)
  - 6. Cui, H., Li, S., Yuan, Q., et al: ‘An AC electrokinetic impedance immunosensor for rapid detection of tuberculosis’, Analyst, 2013, 138, (23), pp. 7188–7196 (doi: 10.1039/c3an01112g).
4. 4)
  - 8. Cui, H., Wu, J., Eda, S., et al: ‘Rapid capacitive detection of femtomolar levels of bisphenol a using an aptamer-modified disposable microelectrode array’, Microchim. Acta, 2015, 182, (13), pp. 2361–2367 (doi: 10.1007/s00604-015-1556-y).
5. 5)
  - 14. Cui, H., Cheng, C., Lin, X., et al: ‘Rapid and sensitive detection of small biomolecule by capacitive sensing and low field AC electrothermal effect’, Sens. Actuators B, 2016, 226, pp. 245–253 (doi: 10.1016/j.snb.2015.11.129).
6. 6)
  - 2. Yang, K.H., Liu, Y.C., Yu, C.C., et al: ‘Fabrication of chitosan/silver nanocomposites based on electrochemica l methods for removing formaldehyde in air’, Mater. Chem. Phys., 2011, 126, (3), pp. 993–997 (doi: 10.1016/j.matchemphys.2010.09.069).
7. 7)
  - 5. Li, S., Cui, H., Yuan, Q., et al: ‘AC electrokinetics-enhanced capacitive immunosensor for point-of-care serodiagnosis of infectious diseases’, Biosens. Bioelectron., 2014, 51, (2), pp. 437–443 (doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2013.08.016).
8. 8)
  - 3. Allouch, A., Guglielmino, M., Bernhardt, P., et al: ‘Transportable, fast and high sensitive near real-time analyzers: formaldehyde detection’, Sens. Actuators B, Chem., 2013, 181, (3), pp. 551–558 (doi: 10.1016/j.snb.2013.02.043).
9. 9)
  - 12. Walewyns, T., Francis, L.A.: ‘A novel MEMS tunable ionization sensor based on patterned freestanding Nickel nanowires and moving electrode’. IEEE TRANSDUCERS Conf., Beijing, China, 2011, pp. 1986–1989.
10. 10)
  - 7. Liu, X., Cheng, C., Wu, J., et al: ‘A low cost and palm-size analyzer for rapid and sensitive protein detection by ac electrokinetics capacitive sensing’, Biosens. Bioelectron., 2017, 90, pp. 83–90 (doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2016.10.098).
11. 11)
  - 16. Bard, A.J., Faulkner, L.R.: ‘Electrochemical methods fundamentals and applications’ (Wiley, 1980).
12. 12)
  - 14. Labib, M., Hedström, M., Amin, M., et al: ‘A capacitive biosensor for detection of staphylococcal enterotoxin B’, Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 2009, 393, (5), pp. 1539–1544 (doi: 10.1007/s00216-008-2559-x).
13. 13)
  - 9. Cui, H., Cheng, C., Wu, J., et al: ‘Rapid detection of progesterone by commercially available microelectrode chips’. IEEE Sensors Conf., Baltimore, USA, 2013, pp. 138–140.
14. 14)
  - 15. Barsoukov, E., Macdonald, J.R.: ‘Impedance spectroscopy: theory, experiment, and applications’ (Wiley-Interscience, 2005, 2nd Edn.).
15. 15)
  - 9. Wu, J., Ben, Y., Battigelli, D., et al: ‘Long-range AC electroosmotic trapping and detection of bioparticles’, Ind. Eng. Chem. Fundam., 2005, 44, pp. 2815–2822 (doi: 10.1021/ie049417u).
16. 16)
  - 1. Cui, X., Fang, G., Jiang, L., et al: ‘Kinetic spectrophotometric method for rapid determination of trace formaldehyde in foods’, Anal. Chim. Acta, 2007, 590, (2), pp. 253–259 (doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2007.03.042).
17. 17)
  - 13. Thomas, W., Laurent, A.F.: ‘Modeling the sensing behavior of a MEMS field ionization device coupled with capacitive actuation’. IEEE Sensors Conf., Taipei, Taiwan, 2012, pp. 1–4.

Rapid and sensitive detection of formaldehyde based on AC electrokinetic effects

References

Related content